Parents splash out in Edendale

Edendale board of trustees chairman Phil Crawford faces the expensive prospect of upgrading the pool. Picture / Glenn Jeffrey

Like most of his generation, Phil Crawford has memories of swimming lessons in the concrete pool during his primary school days.

But as chairman of the Edendale Public School board of trustees he has had to face the possibility of taking that opportunity away from generations of children.

"The pool is in a state where it needs, at the least, maintenance and possibly a total upgrade - and that costs money," he said.

"We did not want to do that only to find it is something the community doesn't want."

Fortunately for the 600 Edendale pupils, parents were overwhelming in their support for the pool and the board agreed this week that money would be found to keep the facility, which has been there for more than 30 years.

The next problem will be to find the cash. It costs $4000 a year to maintain the pool, before the costs of any improvements. Demolition and landscaping the area would cost $75,000.

"Do we spend some every year on maintenance or do we upgrade completely?" Mr Crawford said. "We haven't even come close to looking at the pricing yet."

The decile five school in Sandringham, Auckland, is one of hundreds nationwide facing a similar dilemma.

Ministry of Education figures suggest about 80 schools will scrap their pools over the next year.

Mr Crawford admitted Edendale was lucky.

"It's an issue a lot of schools are looking at and there's definitely strong financial arguments for not having a pool."

Principal Rosemary Vivien said a pool created other difficulties. It was a logistical battle to get classes in and out of the pool throughout the day and to give everyone a fair go in a short swimming season.

"You cannot tell when something will go wrong. It just happens," she said, "and that all comes back to money."

But Mrs Vivien said she would have been disappointed if the pool had been lost.

"Everyone goes to the beach," she said. "Everyone needs to know how to swim."