Live Oak Pool:
Full Interview with Alex Park

While researching our story about the Live Oak Pool for Issue #2 (out 10/8/26), Aegis staff spoke with Alex Park, OHS parent and current President of the Oakland High Parent Teacher Organization. This interview was conducted on Sept. 24, 2026. The text of this interview has been edited for clarity.

The Aegis: What is your personal stake in the Live Oak Pool? How is this affecting you personally?

Alex Park: For me, as a parent, my oldest daughter [in the class of 2024] was able to use the pool for PE and that actually was amazing because she had bad knees, and it was really hard for her to get exercise otherwise. So having that available for PE was [inaudible]. She actually had surgery on both her knees three times [total]. So that is one aspect. 

The other aspect is that I work with a nonprofit that works with youth called Oakland Trybe. And there was an intern who had worked with us, and not this past summer but the summer before, he drowned in Sacramento.

So many of the youth that we work with don’t know how to swim, so I really feel strongly that it’s super important for people to learn how to swim, and to have the opportunity to learn how to swim, regardless of income or [other factors]. Having a place on campus where students can learn how to swim, [where] it’s offered as part of the curriculum, is amazing. And that it hasn’t been able to be offered for the last two years is really upsetting. So I just feel like we really need this resource for our youth in Oakland.

Aegis: Could you summarize your involvement with and advocacy for the pool in the last few years?

AP: I think it really started the summer before last [in 2024] when we realized that the pool was just not going to be back in service. I was trying to figure out what had happened, [since] it hadn’t really been this closed [before]. I was asking my daughter who graduated that year if she knew what happened, and she just said something about the surface of the pool being rough or something.

So I started asking questions. And then also, I got together with a group of people. I just sent an email out to ask if anybody else wanted to figure out what’s going on with the pool, and got a group together to try to figure out what we could do as a community.

Also, another parent in the PTO reached out to [District 2] Councilmember [Charlene Wang] to find out if she knew what was going on with the pool, and the response we got from the city two summers ago [in 2024] was that it was going to cost $1.6 million to get fixed. And so I just thought, wow, that’s a lot of money, what’s wrong with the pool that costs that much? And they didn’t give any details.

Since then, I’ve done a lot of research on figuring out what’s wrong with the pool. I’ve had contractors come out [to give] professional opinions on what’s wrong with the pool and how much they thought it would cost, and me and other parents have advocated with the city. Last March, we held a meeting with our councilmember, the head of Parks & Rec[reation], and the assistant to the City Administrator to bring it to their attention that this pool is sitting here and it hasn’t been used because it’s out of service, and we’re not getting any information. And so they said they would do an assessment of the pool.

But your question was, what have I done? So, basically, just advocating and trying to press the city to do something about it, gathering people together to try to brainstorm what we can do, and get information and figure out what the next steps are.

Aegis: How do you feel about how long the pool has been having issues?

AP: I’m really upset! So, just to give you some background… The pool was first built in the 1950s. I’m not sure if it’s been replastered since it was built. If you go and look at the side of the pool, the walls look like the outside of a stucco house. So it’s very rough, and that’s not how plaster in a pool is supposed to look. So it’s pretty obvious it needs to be replastered.

What I found out through my research was that the initial “repair” that was done to the pool was done because there were complaints of algae growing on the bottom of the pool. And the repair that was done was kind of like the [Lincoln Memorial Reflection Pool] in Washington, D.C. I don’t know if you guys know about that, but they also painted that and the paint didn’t adhere to the pool itself. In the same way, we did it first, in Oakland. (laughs)

The city decided to try to fix the pool by painting the plaster. And it didn’t work the first time, so they drained the pool, and then they painted it a second time, and it didn’t work the second time either. And now the pool is completely unusable. [...] If you touch the side of the wall, the paint just comes right off into the water. Still. And it’s been two years.

So, the water’s just sitting there. They’re still putting chemicals in the water so it doesn’t grow a bunch of algae.

The city’s “repairs” just basically made the pool unusable. And right now, the city’s not taking accountability for this and they’re basically just doing nothing. They haven’t even come up with a plan for fixing it. They don’t know what it would cost, and that’s what we’ve been asking for since the beginning of 2026. Basically we’ve just been saying, can you please just really give us a legitimate cost estimate? Because as the PTO, as community members who are interested in seeing the pool reopened, we’ve said we’ll help fundraise. We probably can’t cover the whole thing, but we want this pool to be opened. 

The one thing that we’ve been asking for is just a cost estimate. And we haven’t gotten.. they haven’t done that.

I’ve even provided to the city [the name of] a company that does assessments [and designs] of pools. I provided their contact info to the city administrator’s office, and they still have not moved forward. It’s just.. so frustrating.

Aegis: Overall, why do you think this is happening? 

AP: I think that it’s [just] not a priority for the city. And I think in Oakland, unless it’s a priority for somebody that has some power, it just gets dismissed. Everybody’s trying to make moves for themselves. 

It’s a pool at a school, you know? And usually, kids are at the bottom rung because they’re not part of the voting pool yet. It’s just.. I just think that where the votes are [is] where people are trying to make moves. And it’s pretty upsetting.

But I will say that a couple of weeks ago, me and Pamela [Erickson], who’s our PTO fundraising chair, we met with Miya [Saika Chen], the Chief of Staff for Mayor Barbara Lee, and Miya did follow up with the City Administrator’s office and asked them [if they could] do an assessment of the pool so that we can have at least an accurate cost estimate, and an understanding of what needs to be done. And the response didn’t come until two days ago [Sep. 22]. So it takes a couple of weeks for them to respond.

First of all, they met last week, and they said, oh, we don’t have a company, we can’t do that. But I sent the email [with information about the pool company RS+M] over two weeks ago. This is what they do - they work on designs for pools in schools in California. I told them the contact number and name of somebody that works there, and they.. yeah. They just.. Some of it is a mystery to me why it’s not getting done. (laughs) Sorry. I do get a little riled up at this. It’s very upsetting and frustrating that they’re not doing anything.

Aegis: How can the OHigh community get involved in the efforts to re-open the pool?

AP: We do have a survey that I have put out, and [I] was on campus last year [in 2025] trying to get students to fill it out, and asked some of the teachers to share it out, but definitely getting as many people to fill out the survey would be great because I think it shows the city that people are aware that they haven’t done anything, and that people want the pool to be opened. So I think filling out the survey would help. 

I think that because the city is just not responding, we have to continue to put pressure on them. I think the next step will be probably to have a press conference. [...] We’d love to get more news outlets, just getting the word out there that this is happening, and that the city is really doing a disservice to the youth of Oakland and to the community.

And I don’t know if you all saw it, but there was a recent article that came out about [Temescal Pool]. There was a team there that practices, and now that’s shut down because there was an incident with some chemicals that were accidentally released [into the pool] and then people had to go to the hospital. 

We need more pools for people to use in Oakland. And [...] it doesn’t seem like it’s a priority [for city government]. So [writing articles], filling out the survey, and just getting the word out [are important], because I think a lot of people do want to see this pool open. [It’s important to] get adults involved as well, because I think voters do help put pressure on the city. 

Aegis: Ms. [Clare] Burger mentioned to us that she is joining an Oakland pools advocacy committee. Are you also part of this? What do you know about it?

AP: Yes, yes, that’s the group of parents and community members that I mentioned. It’s called the Live Oak Pool Community Advocates. That’s just what I named the group that has been meeting and talking about how we can get the pool reopened. That’s where we had the idea of doing a survey, and some people have been looking into other outside sources of funding we could potentially tap into for getting the pool fixed, since both OUSD and the city are both.. constantly out of money. But I guess we could continue to grow that! And if people want to participate in that, and help with getting the word out about what’s going on, and sending out emails, then that would also be helpful. 

[21:00]

Aegis: If people do want to get involved in the advocacy committee, who should they talk to, or how could they join?

AP: They can email me, and I would add them to the email list. I do have a parent who has offered to take over the position, but [...] I haven’t been able to hand that off yet. But for now, people can email me at president@oaklandhighpto.org. 

[...]

I think I mentioned just including the survey would be amazing. We have it in English and Spanish, and we only have 14 responses in Spanish. I know your newsletter is probably only in English, but it would be great to get more people in other languages, and get more representation of inputs. 

And I did [include] the brief that I sent [to the Mayor's office]. There’s a lot of great info in there. There’s a slideshow that summarizes the latest results of the survey. [...] Last year, we were thinking, if we can increase the priority of this project in the city’s CIP, then we can get things moving, but I’m kind of beyond that. I don’t even want to ask for that. I just want the city to fix the pool. Like, if it’s part of the CIP, that pushes it out five years, or ten years. It needs to get fixed [now]. And I hope the city takes accountability for their mistakes and really just takes action. 

English survey: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScWszS5J6lY_kyFABWZvRnBhgvt7Ko7xrFWWbPUaCLMDH0QvQ/viewform 

Encuesta en español: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSebd7Y0hzQb3okgIOhqNVslDb3IoRlFQqIJdy2UMdDc0arKIg/viewform 

Below, you can review the survey results as of August 2026: