Though it had been slated for closure at the end of this year, the swimming pool at Jarvis Collegiate Institute has likely earned a stay of execution.
The school pool was one of 13 pools the Toronto District School Board planned on draining and closing before 2010 in a controversial cost-cutting measure. However, an impressive effort from community members and organizations has brought in $86,588 in permit money, well over the $68,996 required to cover the pool’s incremental operating costs.
The pool received a $20,000 donation from the Kiwanis Club of Toronto, $35,000 from Manulife Financial and $5,000 from the YMCA to help meet its goal, with the remaining money raised through group swimming permits for the pool and other means.
Karen Pitre of the Aquatics Working Group, a group dedicated to saving school pools from the chopping block, said the board still has to approve the decision not to close the pool, but added she does not foresee a problem in that regard.
“I think the staff at the board realize this is something that’s needed in this community,” she said. “(The city) wanted to have one in the Wellesley (Community) Centre, but that never came together and there’s nothing else in this area.”
Pitre said the push to keep the pool open was a real community effort, but warned that the good news is hardly reason for those who have been fighting to keep the pool open to rest on their laurels.
“The community stepped up and said, ‘we’re going to make this work,’” she said. “The challenge now is focusing on making sure the pool is sustainable and the incremental costs are recoverable.”
Local trustee Sheila Ward said the TDSB okay was all but a formality, adding that the school is currently operating under the assumption that it will be open by Oct. 21 at the latest. Before it is open, the pool’s boiler must be repaired and the pool itself must undergo some routine cleaning and upkeep.
Ward expects the pool to become a valuable community recreation hub, geared specifically toward residents of the traditionally underserved area.
“The use of the Jarvis pool is intended primarily for the people in area and it was on that basis that both the Kiwanis Club and Manulife gave us that money,” she said. “The YMCA are working with us and with the community to see what the people of St. James Town would like in their use of the pool.”
Ward added that the community is unlikely to ever raise the full amount to keep the pool in operation through permitting alone, but she hopes other funding sources, including private donors, can manage to keep it running.
“We may be able to raise a third of (operating costs) but this is a very critical recreation (facility) in St. James Town,” she said.
While Jarvis’ pool is likely to remain open, Queen Alexandra Senior Public School is also coming close to reaching its fundraising target, which would allow it to stave off closure at the end of the year, with fundraising efforts leaving them only $11,000 short of their $36,788 operating cost.
A supporter of Queen Alexandra pleaded her case at the TDSB’s Administration, Finance and Accountability Committee meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 16.
“In many (of the pools that are remaining open) there is a gap of well over $11,000, which is what Queen Alexandra is at,” said Mandy Pipher, a staff member of local Trustee Cathy Dandy.
Since June, staff at the school have secured major corporate permit applications from the YMCA, made possible with sponsorship money from RBC. This money, plus additional permits that could be made possible through the school’s provincial designation as a Priority School could keep the pool afloat.
The problem is the pool needs to be opened as soon as possible or much of this permit revenue might disappear, leaving some of the less financially fortunate members of the community without any access to public pools.
“What we are seeing with the pools is that ones that stay open are based mostly on permit revenue and those who are able to generate revenue from corporate sponsorships or agencies to permit the pools are those in wealthy areas,” said Pipher. “The reason it’s important to have needy children learn to swim is those are the ones that otherwise will not be able to.”
The committee was surprised to hear that Queen Alexandra had been making such impressive progress. What also surprised them was that a document released by the Toronto Lands Corporation and the Aquatics Working Group in August had already recommended pools at Queen Alexandra and Fern Jr. & Sr. Public School be re-opened, but due to a clerical mix-up, the document had not been circulated to trustees.
Upset that these recommendations had not been presented to them earlier, the committee agreed to officially recommend that the TDSB re-open the pools at both Jarvis and Queen Alexandra as soon as operationally possible.
“Almost all the pools closing are in the inner city and we as a board don’t seem to be able to address that,” said Trustee Shelia Cary-Meagher. “They need to see that we are behind them.”
The recommendation to re-open the two pools will be presented for approval at the next general meeting of the TDSB on Wednesday, Sept. 23.