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MBHS Diving Into A New Pool

IMG_6584 IMG_6592 IMG_6598 IMG_6614 IMG_6617By Neil Farrell

The San Luis Coastal School District broke ground on a new pool facility at Morro Bay High, a long-anticipated event for both the community and the student athletes in the aquatics program.

District Superintendent Dr. Eric Prater told the assembled students, community members, dignitaries, parents and school staff that this was, “A long time coming. We heard from the Morro Bay and Los Osos communities 6-years ago about the need for a pool.”

He called getting a new pool built “a long shot” without the approval in November 2014 of Measure D, a $177 million bond measure that will pay for major upgrades and new facilities at Morro Bay and San Luis Obispo high schools.

Measure D, he said, was approved by 72-percent of voters (it needed a simple majority to pass). He added that he was one of those people who care deeply about his job and the students.

The pool project was a symbol of how the community can cooperate and build a community asset that will be here for a very long time. “This will be a benefit to our community well into the future,” said Dr. Prater.

He said they looked at the needs of the students, who have been without a pool for more than 15 years, and the community’s needs but, “Nothing would have happened without the courage of the Board of Trustees,” who took the leap of faith to propose such a large bond measure to the voters.

He thanked a number of people, both the district’s team and three residents in particular whom he said took up the challenge and promoted the bond measure — Amy Burton of Morro Bay, Ann Dover in Los Osos and Brian Claussen in SLO.

Among the dignitaries there was Dr. Gil Stork, president of Cuesta College, who Prater said has been very cooperative with MBHS, as it has had to field boys and girls water polo and swimming and diving teams, without a home pool.

Cuesta has been generous in letting the district use its pool and soon, Cuesta will have to close its facility for major repairs and they will be able to use the district’s facilities.

Ryan Pinkerton, the district’s project manager, said the pool was one of several major construction jobs planned for the campus, which was originally built in 1959 and has been in dire need of major upgrades for many years. He added that the school will get a new administration and student services building, a remodeled auto shop with a ceramics studio, a multi-media lab and engineering classrooms, and all the classrooms will be renovated “with windows that open,” he said to laughs among the students.

Principal Dr. Kyle Pruitt thanked his aquatics program coaches and staff, the administrators at the school and the athletic boosters club for their work on the Measure D campaign.

“I want to thank the community for supporting Measure D,” he said, “and making this facility possible for our kids.” He praised the aquatics teams for their success in the face of adversity, for enduring practices on land and in pools that are “not much bigger than a backyard pool. Our students deserve the best and because of Measure D they will have it. Our community has been tolerant and patient for years.”

The pool replaces the school’s original facility, which was taken out in the early 2000s and the site paved over with basketball courts being installed.

The pool is to be available for use by the community, one of the promises the district made to the voters. Dr. Prater said the City of Morro Bay was still working out a recreation program for its use, which is likely to include classes like aqua-aerobics, lap swimming and swimming lessons for children, seen as being extremely important in a town with a harbor and ocean.

The $6 million facility will have a 25-meter lap pool and diving pool and a new locker room for the public to use. Dr. Prater and Pinkerton explained that the locker room will not have indoor showers but instead outdoor rinse-off showers for the public to use.

This is both for security reasons and to save water, he explained. The kids will shower in the locker rooms of the school’s gymnasium. That hasn’t set well with some in the community who feel the locker rooms should have complete facilities open to the public’s use.

Torie White a senior swimmer and one of the top athletes for the Lady Pirates, has competed her entire career without a single home meet, said she’s had a lot of fun representing MBHS despite the adversity.

“At times, it’s been a struggle,” she said of the inconvenience of having to travel for practices and hitting the road for every meet. “But we’re pretty tough.”

Pinkerton said the pool construction would start this summer and continue through next school year, with the expected completion sometime next summer. It will be a cement pool, he explained, because the area has high groundwater and “reactive soils” that don’t lend themselves to using a pre-fabricated fiberglass or stainless steel pool. Such pools can cut expenses and are much less messy than bringing in big piles of sand and mixing cement on site.

The school has a water well that it uses to irrigate its ball fields and the swimming pool will be using that water too, though he said they might have to treat it first. The groundwater in that area is historically high in nitrates, but those are easily removed with a reverse osmosis system.

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