Pools to stay open

Pools to stay open. Earl Grey Senior Public School's Wendy Buckner, left, and Ruby Lederman display some of the $16,000 worth of bottles they sold to raise money for their pool. The pair set up outside the emergency Toronto District School Board meeting held Tuesday night at board headquarters. Staff photo/ERIC HEINO

Credit was given to community organizations and the Aquatics Working Group for fundraising that was able to save 30 of 37 pools being considered for closure since 2008. Amidst celebrations at the TDSB's 5050 Yonge St. headquarters, some were already looking forward toward an uncertain future for many pools still lacking long-term funding solutions.

"The next order of business they've asked us to look at is there are 33 new pools that are currently under lease by the city and they would like us to work with the city to find a long-term solution," said David Crombie, chair of the Aquatics Working Group (AWG).

The members of the AWG have been working since April 2008 to find a long-term solution to pool funding. Keeping nine pools open is a good start, but is only a temporary fix for much larger systemic funding problems. Crombie is looking toward January 2011 when the $6-million leasing deal between the City of Toronto and TDSB pools expires.

The motion passed by the TDSB actually includes more than just re-opening pools, it mandates the Toronto Lands Corporation to work with the City of Toronto and the AWG in developing options for a new governance model to manage swimming in Toronto. The Toronto Lands Corporation is expected to present reports in March and June which will give more detail on who will be responsible for looking after pools in the future.

The final decision to keep pools open lay in the hands of trustees, but it was repeated again and again they could not have come to their decision without the active participation of individual communities that rallied to sell usage permits. As of Dec. 31, 2009, the nine schools were able to raise a combined $8,889 above the six-month operating costs of their pools, but maintaining that momentum will be a challenge community groups need to take seriously.

A key contributing factor to the pools' financial turmoil was a lack of revenue from community permits.

Ward 15 trustee Cathy Dandy plans to continue working with school councils until a city-wide pools governance model can be created. Earl Grey Sr. PS and Monarch Park were two of Dandy's pools saved in the meeting, largely because of creative fundraising that will need to continue in the future, she said.

"We are looking at long-term sustainable solutions," said Dandy. "We have approached hospitals and seniors homes for permit solutions...we need to look at many different solutions."

The nine pools voted to re-open as soon as possible were Carleton Village PS Sr., Central Technical School, Earl Grey Sr. PS, George Harvey C.I., Kensington Community School Jr., Monarch Park C.I., SATEC @ W.A. Porter C.I., Western Technical-Commercial School and Winona Drive P.S. Sr./McMurrich PS Jr.