Pool has value beyond costs

Through the hard fought efforts of school board member, Marilyn Dimmick, a swimming pool was built at Ninilchik School in 1981. Many residents and children that worked on the water could not swim. As it was explained to me at a pool and spa operators class, pools are not about making money. Pools are about wellness and of course safety. Contrary to some comments, the pool at Ninilchik is not operating at a loss.The pool not only serves the students but the community as well. Troopers have trained there, there are swim lessons in the summer, the aged exercise, there is rehabilitation, physical therapy, lifeguard classes, and I have conducted marine drill instructor classes for fishermen. Will the pool be shutdown this summer? I challenge the logic of the school district here. In the summer pool use rises and lessons are provided. Couple that with the expense of mothballing and start-up and the real question is what has been saved? Restarting equipment is not always seamless, refilling, heating, and chemistry take time. I would hope the school district could see that the benefit to children and the community far outweighs the extremely marginal savings achieved by a closure and restart. The cut to staff is very much out of balance as well. Please reconsider a pool closure at Ninilchik.