Parents, Students Hold ‘Save School Pools’ Rally At Nathan Phillips Square
Posted April 16, 2009 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
It’s sink-or-swim time for school pools.
Students and parents, some clad in bathing suits, rallied at Nathan Phillips Square Thursday morning in an attempt to convince the city of Toronto to keep the pools running.
They’re worried that draining 39 of the Toronto District School Board’s 79 pools will hinder youths’ development. The issue, as always, is coming up with funding.
“These are valuable community resources in jeopardy of being closed and once they are gone, they are not coming back,” says concerned parent David Hope.
Protestors attended a meeting at City Hall where councillors discussed how to come up with the money to keep the pools running.
The province is apparently ready with a $12 million lifeline, but so far that hasn’t been confirmed, and even if the money comes through it might not be enough to keep all the pools open. The T.D.S.B. says that amount would still leave them between $4 million and $5 million short on operating costs.
“If you see it in the context of an investment to keeping young and old people healthy, then it’s no-brainer for an education premier,” remarked M.P.P. Rosario Marchese of the New Democrats.
The pools are scheduled to close in June.
