Community Scrambling To Find Funding For Pool For Special Needs Kids
Posted October 13, 2009 12:05 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A Toronto community is scrambling to find the money that would save a pool used by children with special needs.
The centre at Monarch Park Collegiate is fully accessible, featuring a pool-side lift and wheelchair-accessible washrooms and change rooms.
The school offers aquatic therapy for the 40 high-needs students who attend. It’s one of only four in the Toronto District School Board that has those features.
“I fly away in the water,” Douglas Sansom told Education Specialist Cynthia Mulligan last week.
Douglas (pictured above) has problems with his joints. His mother Megan says swimming is one of the few activities he can do.
But it could end by December 31, unless the funding is found.
A meeting scheduled for October 13 is hoping to find a viable solution.
Part of the problem is the pool’s temperature. It’s kept warmer than others in the board. In total, the pool costs the board $77,000 a year.
The program’s supporters say that if the pool was used to its full capacity, the money wouldn’t be a problem. There are 1400 high-needs students in the TDSB and only about 800 use the special pools
The Board will announce its decision on October 28.
Special Pool In Jeopardy (October 6):
