Counter to results of its own objective public opinion survey, the OPRF High School board has chosen a “Mercedes” solution for the problem of the aging pools when a pragmatic solution is available. The pragmatic pool plan meets all student needs and provides more community pool time. This school board decision is fiscally irresponsible and wasteful.
Why wasteful? The chosen $44.5 million solution demolishes the existing garage and builds a narrower one with 61 fewer spaces. The existing garage has 25 more years of serviceable life. The plan’s smaller garage is senseless. Parking in the Hemingway District [Oak Park Avenue and Lake Street] grows ever tighter and 10% more high school students are expected by 2020. The board plans to take 61 spaces along South Boulevard. But students should use those spaces rather than parking along Chicago Avenue, their cars blocking sightlines and causing predictable accidents. The Mercedes solution also deprives the school and community of a garage for two years.
Why fiscally irresponsible? The chosen $44.5 million solution’s new 40-meter, eight-lane pool and new garage cost a minimum $15 million more than the pragmatic solution, which would build a 25-yard, eight-lane, standard-size competition pool and a warm-up pool within the existing building. The price difference amounts to at least $75,000 per aquatics team member.
And this is really about the desires of aquatics team boosters. The board is considering an expenditure assisting their pro-referendum campaign, violating the school’s own ethics policy and likely the law. Most of the Mercedes solution justifications are about aquatics teams. The pool lobby says junior varsity teams will “learn from” varsity teams practicing at the same time. Water polo teams won’t have to practice late. (Other OPRF sports teams routinely finish practices at 8 p.m. or later, without complaint, due to limited field space.) And the Mercedes solution is closer to “peer institutions” (e.g., it will impress visitors).
If the pool lobby wants to keep up with the Joneses, they should consider the most recent U.S. News and World Report ranking of Illinois high schools. Evanston is OPRF’s closest local peer in terms of demographics. It ranks 13th. Once a top 10 school, OPRF ranks 36th. Evanston hosts state swimming championships with two pools smaller than those in the pragmatic plan.
On Nov. 8, there will be a $25 million bond issue referendum on the Mercedes solution. A yes vote will also mean spending an additional 20 million taxpayer dollars on a pool. That money will come from the huge cash reserve the high school amassed by utilizing a loophole to overtax us for a decade. And the board has only postponed spending to repurpose the existing pools’ spaces.
For the second time in as many votes, the OPRF board has chosen a Mercedes solution to its pool problem. But this time, voters will have the final say. We urge you to “Vote NO in NOvember.” To join our campaign, please email us at D200voteNo@gmail.com, find us on Facebook and visit http://oprfsswim.blogspot.com for updates.
Monica Sheehan, an Oak Park resident is a member of OPRF Pragmatic Pool Solutions.