Photograph by Paul Myers

The Los Gatos Community Pool Foundation is raising funds for a new pool at the high school. Michael McMurray and his daughter, Heather, check out the current facility.

Foundation has a long way to go

By Rebecca Ray

Workers are digging ditches, nailing boards together and pouring cement for new classroom buildings around the Los Gatos High School campus.

But in the school's pool, plaster has peeled off the sides, exposing sharp edges; fiberglass particles from the plaster are now in the water; and the lane markers have pulled out of their moorings.

So the school closed the pool March 15 -20.

The school fixed the problems with the pool, but the Los Gatos Community Pool Foundation says that this won't do. For almost three years, the group's members have exhausted various methods to raise money to build a new, state-of-the-art pool for the school and community. And they're still barely halfway to their goal.

The foundation would like a new pool because the current pool, which opened in 1956, has broken-down systems and has never been renovated. It's a constant struggle to keep the pool properly heated and clean with its current filtration system, says Michael McMurray, the foundation member who's spearheading the fundraising effort.

Also, foundation members say, the current pool, which is 25 yards long, seven or eight lanes wide and less than 4 feet deep, is too shallow and small for water polo practices and competitions. The LGHS water polo teams practice at Saratoga High School, and the LGHS boys and girls swim teams are unable to practice in the pool at the same time.

The foundation would like to replace the current swimming pool, as well as the school's diving and wading pools, with an L-shaped, Olympic-sized pool. Plans--which were drawn by Aquatic Design and submitted to the Division of the State Architect last fall--call for the new pool to have an automated, top-of-the-line water filtration and chlorination system.

The long branch of the "L," which will be 50 meters long and 25 yards wide, will have 16 lanes, 25 yards long, while the short branch of the "L" will be a 900-square-foot area for those learning to swim. The top of the long branch of the "L," which will be 13 ¹/2 feet deep, will also serve as a diving well, and will have two 1-meter diving boards and one 3-meter board. The bottom of the long branch of the "L" will be 7 ¹/2 feet deep, while the short branch of the "L" will have an average depth of 3 ¹/2 feet.

The new pool will have a movable bulkhead, so that different groups can use it at the same time, and a spectator area instead of just two cement benches. The pool will also be wheelchair accessible.

The new pool will be waveless. Although the water will be level with the long sides of the long branch of the "L," the short sides of the long branch of the "L" will be higher than the water level, so that swimmers can see the ends better, McMurray said. The water at the ends of the long branch of the "L" will go to a gutter outside the pool and be recycled back in.

Gilbane, the company that's renovating the rest of the LGHS campus, plans to build the pool in the space where the girls locker room is now. The district will tear down the locker room, since it cannot be earthquake-proofed, and build a new girls locker room in another location, to make room for the pool. McMurray says he would like construction on the pool to begin by the end of the summer.

But to begin construction, the foundation needs to raise 90 percent of the total cost--roughly $2,475,000--which would cover mechanical equipment, common site work and architectural fees. So far, the group has only raised $1.2 million.

After the foundation enlisted help from Netzel Associates Inc., a professional fundraiser, last spring, the foundation formed five committees to focus on fundraising.

McMurray has also discussed the pool with celebrities. Olympic gold medal decathlete Dan O'Brien, whom McMurray met in Las Vegas, said he'd offer his time whenever the foundation needed it, McMurray said.

Mark Victor Hansen, co-author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul books, whom McMurray met at a seminar, set him up with various philanthropy trusts that help with community development projects. The foundation has sent out requests that have resulted in $1.3 million.

McMurray also knows Los Gatos resident Peggy Fleming, who won an Olympic gold medal in figure skating in 1968. Fleming is an honorary chair for the foundation.

The foundation sent its first letter to Los Gatos Town Manager Debra Figone on March 19, asking the town to consider a donation.

The Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High School District will run the pool, and the LGHS teams and PE classes will use it. However, McMurray said, the foundation also envisions the pool--the only public pool in Los Gatos--to be a community pool. In fact, the Los Gatos-Saratoga Department of Community Education and Recreation would be the major user, McMurray said. He added that the foundation would also like to see major events hosted at the pool and for it to be leased to swim programs and a water polo program for children 12 and under.

The foundation is seeking private donations because state education and Measure B funds aren't available, McMurray said. The $79 million Measure B bond, which voters passed in 1998 to fund renovation and construction projects at both district high schools, can only be used for instructional facilities.

For information on the pool, log onto www.lghs.net/thepool.html.

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