What a Tangled Web We Weave….

A few weeks ago I published an article called “Six Pools in Three Schools”. In the article I stated that the pool at the 12th high school wasn’t one pool, but rather two, that the pool complex had been characterized as already decided by county officials, and that the designs for the 13th and 14th high schools would also include pools.

Since then the school division has posted a presentation on the “two pool aquatics complex” at the 12th high school that will be given to the school board on June 5th.  School division staff have reportedly stated that the designs for the two-pool aquatics complex at the 12th high school were prepared a few weeks ago.

Two school board members, Gil Trenum and Chairman Milt Johns, stated in public session that they were not aware of any plans to build pools in the 13th and 14th high schools.  I have been told that Superintendent Walts has assured the school board and staff that the school division has no plans or thoughts of providing pools in the 13th and 14th high schools, and that the first he or anyone with the school division had heard of the possibility of pools in the 13th and 14th high schools was when my article was posted.

I still have a few questions.

Which Pot Should Pay for the Pool?

For more than a month now followers of this blog and of the school division have been embroiled in a debate over whether a pool should be part of the 12th high school.  BOCS and members of the county parks and recreation department are rumored to be in talks with the school division about the planning and funding for the pool, talks which have reportedly happened without the knowledge of my BOCS member or the school board.  Prince William County’s Chief Executive was quoted as expressing her support for the school pool because “it wouldn’t cost the county anything”.  Local blogs have heated up with debates about the benefits of the pool versus concerns that the cost of the pool’s debt service and operations will take money away from classrooms and students.

It seems to me that when it comes to the school pool, we’re all clueless.   That’s probably because the school division doesn’t have any specific plans, at least not yet, and any plans it has haven’t been shared with the public or school board.  Remember, until February the school division hadn’t even admitted to the public that it wanted to include a pool in the 12th high school.

I think we’re all pretty much on the same page.  It think it serves our political leaders for us to think we’re on different sides of the debate so that we fight amongst ourselves instead of focusing our ire at them.  So let’s talk about the pool and see if we can’t find some common ground.