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Thursday, September 02, 2010
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| | Email this article • Print this article | Aquatic Center offerings continue to expand, popularity grows for some swim programs
BY DANI STRENKE
Aquatic Center Director Ellen Heath presented the Chisago Lakes School Board with details on activities and services provided at the pool at its July 14 meeting.
Heath started the presentation by explaining that the pool, located at Chisago Lakes High School, has two main user groups - schools and community.
"School groups are the first priority," Heath said.
The pool is used extensively during the school year by the high school and middle school physical education departments, junior varsity and varsity swim teams, special education, and for rehabilitation through the high school athletic trainer's office.
It is also used for elementary level field trips, and for early season conditioning work by sports teams such as track, gymnastics and cross country. Heath said she'd like to see even more sports teams utilize the pool for one or two workouts a week.
She explained that budget cuts have eliminated the sixth grade phy ed swimming unit for the coming year, but students will still have swimming units in ninth and tenth grade at the high school. Swimming classes focus on fitness and safety, Heath said.
"Classes are lifetime fitness based, but we are also teaching safety skills," she said.
Board member Lori Berg asked how the class is adapted for students who may not know how to swim. Heath said the class is modified, but those students are still brought into the water and taught swimming strokes and water safety skills. Instead of teaching them to tread water in the deep end, for instance, they are placed in an area of the pool where they can touch bottom, but still asked to bring their feet off the bottom and try treading water, she explained.
Heath shared one story of a high school student who came into class not knowing how to swim and who was scared of going in the water. By the end of the class, he was putting his head in the water and swimming, and showed pride in overcoming his fears, she added.
The pool also has many community uses such as swim lessons, diving lessons, lap and recreational swim times, competitive swim classes and pool rentals.
Lessons are given for preschool through adult students throughout the year. Lesson participation this year has been holding steady in numbers compared to last year, Heath said, with slight increases in certain classes.
North Branch Schools also has an agreement with the pool to hold its swim lessons there during the summer.
A new program started this year is a youth "town team" swim club, geared toward third through sixth grades.
"It's an introduction to competitive swimming," Heath said.
The pool also contracts to provide lifeguards throughout the summer at Paradise and Lindstrom Beach parks, as well as for activities such as the Chisago Lakes Triathlon, youth safety camp and summer enrichment.
Recreational swim times is where the pool has seen the biggest increase this summer. Heath believes people are looking for inexpensive family activities, and the pool is a good fit. Monday nights are $1 night, when people can swim from 7:30 to 8:15 p.m. for just $1.
The average attendance for morning lap swim times is 16 people, Heath said.
The key to successful programs at the pool, she said, is to make sure the pool is open and stays open.
"We found consistency is the key. You have to be opened as scheduled, because if someone comes to swim and the pool isn't open for some reason, they aren't likely to come back the next time," she said.
A new heating system has been installed to heat the pool water. Before, a system pumped steam across the high school building from the main boiler. It meant that increasing the water temperature to get it ready for swimming could take weeks, but now takes just a few days.
New fluorescent lights are not only more efficient, but have greatly increased visibility of the entire body of water for lifeguards and pool staff.
"I can stand on the side and see the bottom on the other side of the pool, where before with the glare, you'd have to move around a lot to be able to see," Heath said.
Aquatic Center goals are to establish an active aquatic committee, start a school sports conditioning program, add a deluxe fitness membership and activities such as a wet n' wild kids night and family fun nights.
Heath explained that the committee would focus on improving pool opportunities, and expand its offerings to get more people in to use the pool.
The deluxe fitness membership would be an option where participants can use the fitness center and the pool for a monthly fee.
After the success of a family swim day during Karl Oskar Days, Heath wants the aquatic committee to look at more family-oriented activities such as the special nights. Families could take part in open gym or community education classes, and then use the pool, or similar combinations of activities in the school building and swimming.
Board member Jerry Vitalis said he has heard from some seniors who don't feel they are offered opportunities to use the pool. Heath explained that they do have seniors who come during lap swim or recreational swim times, but she knows it can be intimidating to some older adults, because there are always a lot of kids there too. If they are looking for a senior-centered environment - and perhaps aren't comfortable with the water temperature, Heath refers them to the pool at Parmly, which is kept at a high temp.
District, school handbooks
The board approved a new district handbook and handbooks for Primary and Taylors Falls. The district will limit the number of paper copies of the handbooks available this year, in an effort to save costs and cut down on paper use. Complete handbooks will be available at the district web site.
Personnel accept wage freeze
Superintendent Mike McLoughlin reported that Community Education Director Bob Meyer, Director of Communications and Curriculum Kathy Baker and the building principals have accepted wage freezes. Meyer and Baker accepted wage freezes in this year's contract, while the principal's group agreed to add a third year to its two year contract, in which wages will be the same as the second year. The group's second year of the contract is the 2009-10 school year. Earlier this year, McLoughlin asked the board to approve a wage freeze for himself, and Director of Business Services Heide Miller also agreed to wage concessions in an effort to tighten the budget.
Wind turbine project
Board member Wade Carlson reported the 14 school districts making up a wind energy cooperative have officially cancelled the project originally proposed more than two years ago.
Chisago Lakes, along with 13 other Minnesota school districts, had entered a cooperative to construct a wind turbine farm in southwestern Minnesota, and begin selling the electricity to an electric company.
Carlson and Miller met with several representatives of the other school districts, who voted to discontinue the project. Miller said it is proving to be too risky in todays' economy, and corporations and private investors are simply not willing to take the risk at this time. Carlson said the 14 school districts will not officially disband their agreement, keeping it open to revisit the wind turbine idea at a future date, if deemed feasible.
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