About those swimming pools at OPRF

The swimming pools at Oak Park and River Forest High School aren't getting any newer. State regulations aren't getting any laxer. And that combination of forces is moving these pools toward obsolescence — if they're not there already.

Going back to our theme of the week — local government collaboration — we wonder if OPRF officials don't already look back at failed discussions with the park district over sharing new indoor pools as a giant missed opportunity.

With the parks near ready to embark on a major re-do of Ridgeland Common that plainly doesn't include an indoor pool, landlocked OPRF may have missed its greatest opportunity to fix a problem that is only going to worsen. With out-of-date pools, no land to expand on and tens of millions of dollars in reserve, the high school should have been more focused on making a deal with the parks.

Now it is too late and it will be interesting to see what sort of solutions the high school proposes to solve its pool problems.