Chris Peak File Photo
Wilbur Cross's pool: No swimming here this summer.
Three of the city’s five pools should be open for swim programming this summer, while two will remain shuttered for maintenance.
The three public school-housed pools expected to be open this summer for Youth and Recreation Department programming are at Conte West Hills Magnet School at 511 Chapel St., Hillhouse High School at 480 Sherman Pkwy., and John S. Martinez School at 100 James St.
The two school pools expected to be closed this summer are at Wilbur Cross High School at 181 Mitchell Dr. and Career High School at 140 Legion Ave.
City Youth and Recreation Director Gwendolyn Busch Williams confirmed for the Independent last week that her department is planning to run its annual swim programming this summer, starting in the last week of June. That programming includes day camps, community partner camps, and open swim in the afternoons for neighbors of all ages.
Busch Williams’s team has been preparing its summer programming plans since January. As recently as late March, Busch Williams team believed that all of the city public school-located pools would be closed this summer for maintenance, according to minutes from the March 20 meeting of the parks commission.
However, since then, the department has received the update that it will have access to three of the pools for programming this summer as the district has solidified repair plans that are expected to be completed by late spring or early summer. Schools spokesperson Justin Harmon confirmed for the Independent that three pools are expected to be open this summer.
Busch Williams said she was updated that Hillhouse’s pool is now ready, Martinez’s is expected to be up and running in May, and Conte’s in June.
What remains “unsettled,” according to Harmon, is that the schools do not yet have a certified pool operator as required by the state’s public health code for public pools.
“We do not currently have a position for a certified pool operator. We will work with the offices of Finance and Facilities, and with the union, to see what can be done,” he wrote to the Independent.
Youth and Rec partners with Catholic Charities to run a lifeguard training program starting in the fall each year to staff pools.
Last summer, Busch Williams said, only two of the NHPS pools were open. She said she’s looking forward to having access to a third this year. She said she also hopes that the city one day will get to the point of having all five school pools and all city splash pads repaired and open to the public.
Busch Williams said the Martinez School pool in Fair Have has historically been the most used public pool for youth and families. “It really hit the community,” she said, when Martinez’s pool was not open last year.
“When these things are available, it lets them know the city cares,” she said.
According to the Board of Education’s Feb. 8 School Building Infrastructure & Project Management Stewardship Report, at that time, the school district’s faculties team had a bid out for repairs at Career High School’s pool. That pool at that time needed new paint and repairs to the wall mural; walking deck tile replacements; replacement of interior doors; selective replacement of lighting; sealing the existing acoustic spray ceiling; locker room shower head replacements; adding a chair lift; electrical upgrades; and the replacement of the dehumidification system.
Conte’s pool is waiting for a purchase order to kick in and for a new pool liner to be installed.
Martinez’s pool has had its dehumidification remodel finished, PO received and materials are on order.
Wilbur Cross’ pool is closed due to ceiling tile and grid damages. The report also notes that a dehumidification replacement is needed and work on the roof and pool surroundings.
NHPS