Parents group hires fundraiser to find money for school pool
By Rebecca Ray
To help them finance their Olympic-sized dream pool at Los Gatos High School, a parents group has enlisted a professional fundraising company.
In December 2000, the parents thought they'd have to opt for a smaller, less expensive pool. They had only raised about half the $1.58 million needed to begin construction on the Olympic pool. But because The Valley Foundation pledged $400,000, and another donor said he'd donate $100,000 if the school built the larger pool, the group decided on the Olympic version.
Since May 1, Netzel Associates Inc., a professional fundraiser, has helped the parents group form committees that will begin to solicit funds from private donors and companies in the fall. A major gifts committee will focus on soliciting 12 to 15 gifts of $50,000 or above, payable over one to three years, while a special gifts committee will focus on obtaining 45 gifts of $10,000 or more, also payable over one to three years.
The community gifts committee will try to solicit 100 gifts under $10,000, payable over one to five years. A prospect review task force will analyze private donors and companies for the group to approach. A 12-member campaign steering committee, which parents hope will eventually number 15 members, will oversee all the other committees.
Officials from Aquatic Design, the pool's designer, estimate it to cost about $2.6 million. The amount will cover the cost of everything from movable bulkheads and development, to construction and obtaining loans. The parents plan for construction to begin once they have raised 90 percent of the funds.
Netzel officials estimate that the parents will have the necessary funds by March 2002 at the latest, Campaign Steering Committee Chairman Michael McMurray said. He added that the parents already have almost 40 percent of the funds.
The parents would like to replace the school's current swimming facility--which includes a wading pool, a diving pool and a swimming pool that is 25 yards long, seven or eight lanes wide and less than 4 feet deep--with an L-shaped Olympic-sized pool.
The current swimming pool, which opened in 1956, has never been renovated. Systems have broken down, and the pool is in major need of renovation, said McMurray, whose daughter plays water polo at Los Gatos High School. McMurray added that pieces of plaster have fallen off the edges of the pool. When swimmers have turned, they have cut their feet on the sharp edges.
Unlike the current pool, the new pool, which will be about 11,000 square feet, will have top-of-the-line filtering, gutter and chlorinating systems, said members of the parents group. The long arm of the new pool will have six 50-meter lanes, while the short arm will have eight 25-yard lanes. The top of the long branch of the "L," which will be 13 feet deep, will also serve as the diving well. It will have two 1-meter diving boards and two 3-meter diving boards.
The short branch will range in depth from 7 to 4 feet. Plans also call for a new deck area with stands and a movable bulkhead that would divide the pool into sections and allow different groups to use it at the same time.
Alternate plans for a smaller pool had called for an L-shaped, 6,000-square-foot pool with arms that were 25 meters and 25 yards long and that ranged in depth from 4 1/2 to 7 feet. Aquatic Design had estimated the smaller pool's cost at almost $1.05 million.
The parents want an Olympic pool because the current swimming pool, as well as a 25-meter pool, are too shallow and small for water polo practices and competitions, such as the California Coast Section swim meets. Also, the boys' and girls' swim teams are unable to practice in the current pool at the same time.
During the 2000-'01 school year, the water polo players practiced and played at Saratoga High School. Parent John Lux said that traveling to Saratoga reduced the amount of time athletes could have spent practicing.
Los Gatos High School would not even be able to hold regular division swim meets if the school had not cut down the starting blocks to prevent swimmers from hitting the bottom on entry dives. Even with the shortened starting blocks, officials warn swimmers during meets that their dives need to be shallow, Lux said. Also, McMurray added, the pool is so shallow that backstrokers bounce off the bottom when turning.
The parents plan for the new pool to be a community pool, as well as a school pool. The smaller, 25-meter pool would have had limited value in generating income because fewer groups would have rented it, McMurray said. Also, the smaller pool would not have had a wheelchair lift and could not have been used for swimming and water polo camps.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
