By DON STINE
Construction on the new, $11 million Olympic-size pool at Neptune High School began early this month and is expected to be completed by late September next year.
“I think the pool is a very important asset to Neptune and its students in that they now have an opportunity to become familiar with water, the related safety precautions and learn how to swim,” said School Superintendent David A Mooij.
The pool was originally planned to be built at the new Midtown Community Elementary School at Route 33 and Memorial Drive but was moved to the high school after ground conditions at the original site proved unfit, mainly due to the water level.
The cost for the year-round heated pool, which will have locker rooms and bleachers, was split between the school district and the New Jersey School Development Authority.
The school district’s half of the money was provided through the sale of the old Whitesville and Ridge Avenue school properties.
“That money totally covered our half of the cost,” Mooij said
The full-sized pool will have recreational, competitive, and therapeutic uses. The pool will be very shallow at one end for younger swimmers but eventually have a depth of 12-feet.
“There is no diving board but one could be installed,” Mooij said.
He said the pool will be used for physical education classes at the school although it is unsure at this point if pool or swimming classes will be a mandatory or an elective course.
“Students may be given several options. We are discussing if it should be a requirement that students must at least pass a minimal water safety test,” he said.
Mooij said it will also be used as a community pool or to teach classes, such a scuba diving.
Any community use will either be for free or at a very low cost. A policy for use by the public is currently being discussed, he said.
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Published every Thursday.
Five Million, five hundred thousand dollars out of our pockets. That’s ‘our half’ of the cost. Like the ‘other half’ comes out of someone else’s pockets? What the hell are you guys thinking?
Think 3,000,000 loaves of bread. 1,660,000 gallons of gas. 1,500,000 gallons of milk. 1,200,000 meals-on-wheels. 250,000 school text books.
For a pool. A heated, year-round pool. ‘For the kids’. Three questions: Will being able to swim in February improve any of the kids grades or prepare them for the real world? Can any of us THAT PAID FOR THIS white elephant suit up and take a dip when we want to? Would that much money have paid for the Senior Center with money left over to pay down municipal debt?
The inmates truly are running the asylum. Thank God they haven’t figured out how to lock the gates. We can still get out before these people go completely insane.