Pool reconstruction in sight

by Lily Wong
Feb. 21, 1990

Repairs to the Live Oak Memorial Pool are not scheduled to be finished this school year — leaving the Oakland High Swim Team with difficulties practicing for the OAL because of the inaccessibility of their own school pool.

Councilwoman Mary Moore, Principal Joanne Grimm, and the Directors of Parks and Recreation are scheduling a meeting to discuss the plans for resuming the renovation of the pool.

The pool has been out of use since the second semester of last year as a result of a collapsed heater. The heater has been repaired, but Coach Pam Strong of the Oakland High Swim Team says filter pumps are broken and there might be the possibility of a leak in the pool.

The project will involve the County Health Department because of problems regarding the area and facilities surrounding the pool, added Councilwoman Moore.

The Recreational Department had initially informed the school that it would renovate the pool during the summer and that the pool would be ready for use by January [1990].

However, due to the October 17 [Loma Prieta] earthquake, the project to repair the pool was halted as Oakland City Hall sought to recover from the damages.

Last October, Coach Strong and Assistant Principal Dr. Delores delBarco initiated a letter writing drive to bring the problem to the attention of the Oakland Recreational Department.

Moore reportedly received letters from over 500 students pleading with her to save the OHS swimming program and she has sent out replies to each student. “I was impressed by each letter . . . by the quality and level of education they showed,” said Moore.

But she explained that the purpose of the letter writing drive was not to convince her that they needed the pool but rather for publicity. The problem became well-known when The Tribune printed a photograph of 175 students standing at the bottom of their empty pool, dramatizing the failure of the district to repair it. With the reinstatement of the swimming program this spring, the urgency to repair the pool is especially apparent. Coach Strong’s 6th period advanced swimming classes are bussed three days a week to an alternate site, Lions Pool in Dimond Park. With 40 swimmers on the OHS Swim Team, a lot of pool time is lost to practice.

The date of the completion of the repairs is still unknown, but the planning of the project is underway. “What is important is to first make sure that it [the cost of renovations] is in the budget, but the process is moving along,” said Moore.

This article was originally published in the Oakland Aegis on Feb. 21, 1990.