A Swimming Pool at School?

Is there a pool down there? (Nope)

   There were always the rumors: "There's a pool in the basement" or "The Auxiliary Gym's floor is retractable and there's a pool underneath." * These were spread around my high school to the new freshmen. But what if a school really did have a pool?


   Well, at one time, there was talk about just that.

   While looking through files and files, one folder title jumped out at me: "Pools in Schools." Only two pages inside, a map and an information item from a School Board meeting.

   Let's briefly set the stage: It was the late 90's. Eastern Loudoun's population was growing immensely, yet the closest public pool was at Ida Lee in Leesburg.

   In 1999, Parks and Rec teamed up with the school system to come up with plans for a new public aquatic center. It would be connected to the school that eventually became River Bend MS. The aquatic center would be placed on the back of the gyms. The gyms would also be a shared facility with the school and PRCS, much like how Douglass School's gym space is shared with the school and community center.

   The file I found states that the Board of Supervisors would review this plan on their next meeting, and were "expected to vote on inclusion of these facilities as part of the November voter referendum for general obligation bond funding."

   For whatever reason, when River Bend MS opened in 2002, it did not include an aquatic center. With the opening of Claude Moore Recreation Center, there is currently not much need for a pool. For now, the idea sits in a filing cabinet, ready to be called on if the need ever springs up again.


   I hope you are having a merry 6th day of Hanukkah/Christmas today! (Happy Kwanzaa tomorrow!)
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* Which I did believe for a while. I was part of the first freshman class at LCHS after its 2005-2006 renovation, and the just-opened Auxiliary Gym smelled like chlorine for its first month.