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Schools

Community Organizers: Save Our Renton Pools

A group of concerned citizens is working to raise money to address the shortfall needed to save Renton pools.

Community organizers are working hard to get the word out---let’s save our Renton pools.

In October, the Renton School District held two public meetings—one at Lindbergh High School, and one at Hazen High School--to let the public know that there is a funding gap between what the district can provide for the pools, and what it takes to operate them. The message was that the community needs to raise money to offset the costs incurred by the district to manage the pools.

“Both pools cost a combined $869,000 to operate," said district spokesman Randy Matheson. "The district receives about $675,000 in pool use, fees, rentals and other income. The district has budgeted $134,000 to the operation of both pools, leaving $60,000 for the community to raise.”

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“The intent [of the  public meetings] was to communicate early with pool users the district’s need for the community’s financial support to ensure that the pools at both schools had the needed funding to remain open for the coming 2011-2012 school year,” said Matheson.

At one of those early meetings, Chris Carlson—a Boeing employee and self-described fitness enthusiast--agreed to coordinate the “Save Renton Pools” initiative. His son, Eric, who graduated in 2009, lettered four years in swimming.

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Carlson started a Facebook page  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Renton-Pools-Community/166322526729951 designed to keep the community informed about fundraising activities, and to give information about pool usage, and who is affected if the pools should ever go away.

“We are aware that the community needs to lead the effort during this transition year to raise funds, and then to eventually move to managing the pools like a business,” Carlson said. He realizes that this year the group can seek donations, but that “this is not a sustainable effort.”

“I want to be done saving the pools by this time next year,” Carlson said.

The fundraising is crucial, Carlson said, because the pools at both Lindbergh and Hazen serve a huge population of community and district needs.  

In fact, after significant analysis, the Save Renton Pools group has found that the No. 1 activity happening at the pools is swimming lessons.

Jennifer Ben, aquatic manager at the Hazen pool, says the lessons are a huge part of what happens there.

“We give lessons to everyone from age 6 months to adults,” Ben said. Last year, Ben said the Hazen staff taught more than 4,000 kids to swim. During the school year, they average about 150 kids per day, but during summer months—the pool’s busiest time--they average about 500-600 kids per day.

“Swimming is a lifelong skill,” Ben said. She stresses the importance of learning to swim, particularly with Renton’s proximity to Lake Washington. Ben regularly gets calls—including one just last week—from adults who never learned to swim and would like to overcome their fear of the water.

The sheer volume of  activity at both pools, Carlson said, is pretty significant. “In the evening, both pools are jammed with kids taking swimming lessons,” he said.

The Hazen pool is unique because it has a viewing area that seats about 300 that make it suitable for  high school league and district swim meets. Many private clubs—including Bellevue’s and Issaquah’s--use it for practices and meets. It is the closest pool in the region that can accommodate swim club needs.

In addition to those two clubs, the Chinook Aquatic Club uses  the pool and the Shadow Seals swimming club use the pool to teach disabled children to swim.

The 3A District is large. It ranges from Olympia to the Peninsula, which means that meets draw large crowds, Carlson said.  “And, right now, there are approximately 70 boys and 70 girls on the teams at Hazen. That many kids also draw a lot of supporters."

“If the pools are closed, there is a big impact to the swim teams (if they can even survive),” Carlson said.

In addition to swim lessons and swim teams, the Renton Fire Department uses the pools for conducting water rescue training.

Stan Engler, with the Renton Fire Department, said, “Our water rescue team uses the pool several times each year for water certifications related to all types of water rescue situations.”

Engler said the Fire Department relies on the Hazen pool to train on emergency underwater procedures such as removing and donning equipment and panic avoidance drills to keep people fully trained for 24-hour response to water rescue incidents throughout Zone 3 in South King County.

Engler said the department prefers to continue to train fire department staff locally. The fire department would have to find a private pool to train if the Hazen pool was not available any longer.

The Lindbergh pool offers classes, lap swims, lessons and open swims. It is open seven days a week. Click here for more details. The Hazen pool is open noon-9 p.m. Monday-Saturday. The complete schedule and fees are available here.

On March 26, the management, lifeguards and swim instructors of the Lindbergh Pool will have a swim-a-thon to raise money for the Save Renton Pools cause. The swimmers will swim for 2 hours or 212 lengths of the pool (3 miles), whichever comes first. You can sponsor a swimmer by stopping at the front desk at the Lindbergh Pool.

A complete list of fundraising activities and events are available on the Save the Renton Pools Facebook page.

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