After much discussion about a budget crisis or lack thereof, Libertyville High School will be building a new pool in the future, the decision was finalized with the school board-approved budget.
Mr. Chris Stancil, head of buildings and grounds at Libertyville High School, said in an interview over email that the school has not decided when construction will take place. Additionally, Mr. Stancil stated that the district has approved “$21.5 million for the pool and hardscape” in total.
According to Mr. Stancil, construction will take 18 months and plans to relocate roads, landscaping, and parking are yet to be determined. The location of the new pool in uncertain, but it will not take the place of the current pool, he said.
Since construction will take about a year and a half, and the location is yet to be determined, adjustments to senior on-campus parking may have to occur, yet an exact plan is not certain due to budgeting constraints.
Mr. Stancil stated that the current pool has only six lanes, and the new one will have eight, allowing more space for both swimming and diving teams to practice. Specifically, “three separate programs can use the pool at the same time, so there’s more that can be done and time saved by all students and programs.”
Although the diving team currently practices at Vernon Hills, the new pool would allow them to use the space at LHS. A larger pool will save travel time for the teams, and allow LHS students and faculty to be more productive in their practices.
In an interview with Meredith Robbins, a senior on the varsity girls swim team, she stated that the only problems with the current pool are that it’s not big enough and there can be poor air quality.
According to Robbins and fellow senior Janine Loveland, the air quality is the biggest problem with the pool. Robbins explained that “Erick Rogers, the coach, he once called off practice because the air quality was so bad that even he was coughing, and he didn’t want us in the pool because he was afraid that it would hurt us. But the pool is fine.”
The new pool will not only fix the problem of space, since it will be increased from six lanes to eight, but the swimmers hope it will also address the air quality.
In regards to where practices will occur while the renovation takes place, both girls were unfazed during the interview, stating that both the school and club teams will simply find other places to practice. In the past, they have practiced in a variety of locations, from Vernon Hills High School to even Carthage College, when the pool has been closed during certain seasons.
Robbins claimed that the space and other issues were unimportant, emphasizing that “I’ve swam there almost my whole life. I like the hominess of the pool and I like the big window that faces the lake.”
