Fundraising efforts for LGHS pool falling short
By Rebecca Ray
After beginning with a splash, Los Gatos High School's plan to replace its outdated wading and swimming pools and diving well with a first-class swimming pool and diving well is struggling to stay afloat.
So far, the Los Gatos Community Pool Partnership parent group has raised only about half of the $1.58 million needed for the new facility by Dec. 10. If the 30 or so parents and teachers who belong to the group do not raise the other $700,000 to $800,000 by that date, they will meet with LGHS principal Trudy McCulloch to decide whether to postpone construction, scheduled to begin in June, or undertake a smaller, less expensive project.
Although the parent group, which was formed in June 1999, raised nearly $700,000 in its first five months, it has had trouble raising funds since then. Members of the public sector, including The Valley Foundation, the city of Monte Sereno, the town of Los Gatos, Los Gatos school districts and the Los Gatos-Saratoga Department of Community Education and Recreation, have pledged most of the funds, while the parent group has received $116,000 from private donors.
The school cannot use any of its $79 million Measure B bond money because it can only be used for renovating, upgrading and constructing new instructional facilities.
The current lap pool, which is 3 feet 7 inches deep, is too shallow for water polo practices and competitions, so the water polo players practice at Saratoga High School. Parent Jill Hygelund said she would rather drive her daughter Anna, an LGHS water polo goalie, to practices and games at the LGHS, instead of Saratoga. Travel time reduces the amount of time athletes can spend practicing in the pool, parent John Lux said.
Although LGHS swimmers use the pool for practices and regular division meets, the pool is too shallow for LGHS to host CCS championship meets. Since there are no larger pools in Los Gatos, CCS championship meets must be held at places such as the Santa Clara Swim Club.
LGHS would not even be able to host regular division meets if the school had not cut down the starting blocks to prevent the 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.
The pool, which is 25 yards long, is also too small for the boy's and girl's teams to practice in at the same time. Each team needs a 25-yard pool to practice in. In order for LGHS to host CCS championship meets, the pool would have to be 50 meters long so that girl's and boy's competitions could be run at the same time, Lux said.
In addition, the pool and diving well, which were constructed in 1955, have never been renovated and lack top-of-the-line filtering, gutter and chlorinating systems, according to Lux.
They don't "give athletes a competitive advantage," he said.
The parent group would like to replace the current facility with an L-shaped, Olympic-sized pool that would have the long arm consisting of six 50-meter lanes and the short arm consisting of eight 25-yard lanes, and a graduated depth ranging from around 7 feet near the top of the "L" to 13 feet 8 inches at the bottom of the "L." The pool, which would probably be finished by spring 2001, would be big and deep enough for CCS championship meets, for two water polo courts and for the swim teams to practice in at the same time.
The short branch of the "L" would also serve as the diving well and would have two 1-meter boards and two 3-meter boards, two more diving boards than the current diving well.
The increased depth, as well as zero clearance gutters, would make the pool faster. Plans for the new facility also call for a new filtration and chlorinating system, 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.
The size and L-shape of the pool would increase the swimming and recreational time available to all Los Gatos citizens, Lux said. The pool would be long and deep enough for scuba diving and masters swimming classes, and the L-shape would enable people taking kayaking classes to practice turns.
Parents and faculty at Saratoga High School had a similar problem trying to raise money for an Olympic-sized pool at SHS, which opened in August. When the group of fundraisers and pool supporters, began raising funds in 1997, the estimated cost was $900,000. By October 1999, they had raised almost $1.1 million through community donations, including a $200,000 anonymous donation. When construction bids came in, they were 40 percent higher than expected at $1.8 million, and the group found itself short by more than $350,000.
But the group continued to raise money, and the LG-SJUHSD unanimously approved construction one month later, even though the group was short $208,000. Eventually, the goal was achieved with approximately $1 million in contributions from the Saratoga City Council, the high school district, the SHS athletic booster club, The Valley Foundation and private donors.
If the Los Gatos parent group members cannot raise $700,000 to $800,000, members might opt for a less expensive alternative: a smaller L-shaped pool with one 25-yard-long arm and one 25-meter-long arm, that would range in depth from 4 1/2 to 7 feet. Lux estimates they will need less than $150,000 for the smaller project.
Go to www.lghs.net/thepool on the Internet.
|
Los Gatos, California Since 1881
