Letter to the Editor: Top 10 Reasons You Want the Pool at High School 12

Written and Submitted by David Forrest of Lake Ridge, Va. 

By the end of this article, you’re going to want to pick up the phone or drop an email to your elected School Board member or your local county supervisor and demand the pool. Even if you’re not that familiar with all of the drama surrounding this proposed aquatics facility, you’ll want to make sure it’s built. Why? Here are ten very good reasons:

1. Property Values Rise – Even if you never step foot in the aquatics facility, the existence of this shared community resource will drive up property values by as much as 5 percent. People want to raise their children in places that invest in and support parks and recreation, so demand is higher and house prices rise. It’s common sense.
2. Crime Decreases– Municipalities that invest in recreational facilities report decreases in juvenile crime rates, some by as much as 55 percent (Phoenix, AZ). Think about it – if the kids have a constructive place to spend time and be active, it’s less likely they’ll do less constructive things, right?
3. It Pays for Itself– Unlike the other high school sports, which all cost more and run significant operational deficits, an aquatics facility can actually pay for itself by renting out lanes to local swim clubs, hosting functions like birthday parties, generating revenue from swim lessons, physical therapy, etc. None of the other “sacrosanct” sports can claim this.
4. 4 a.m.– This is what time our kids are waking up to go to swim practice. 4 a.m. There aren’t enough swim lanes in the county to accommodate our swimmers, so they have to get up early and stay late into the evening. It’s unfair. We’d never ask this of our football, baseball, or basketball teams. Our kids should be sleeping at 4 a.m..
5. It’s Healthy– This one is obvious, but swimming is not only one of the most heart healthy sports available, but it’s also the least violent. High school swimmers have the lowest injury rate of ALL high school sports, and that includes cheerleading.  You’re not going to find any obese swimmers with concussions.
6. Open to All – The Pool at School 12 will be available to everyone in Prince William County, not just the high school students. No other athletic facility can claim that. Have you ever tried getting onto the local high school’s football or baseball field for a pickup game with friends? Good luck with that. You’ll be able to take your entire family to the new pool.
7. Open All Year– Think of all of the space we waste on high school football stadiums for a sport that runs for about four months of the year and doesn’t allow any use of the space at any other time. The new aquatics facility will be open all year round and available to all of our friends and neighbors in the county. I like football, but we’ll get a lot more use out of a pool.
8. It’s For Life– Most of the sports we’re all familiar with have kids playing until the high school level, and rarely beyond that. Their “career” is over after high school. Not swimming. People do that for the rest of their lives – in pools and at the beach. Learning how to swim can be a life-saver for you or someone else. Swimming lessons will be readily available for all of us at this new facility.
9. Gender Neutral– Swimming and track are the only competitive sports in high school that are gender neutral. It appeals to both boys and girls and they compete together on the same team. In this regard, it has the broadest appeal of all of the sports.
10.  They ALL Agree – I attended a joint meeting of the School Board and Board of County Supervisors (BOCS) in August and every single person in that room agreed that Prince William County needs this facility. Everyone. They spent most of their time arguing about which budget it would come from, which is ridiculous, when you understand that the BOCS sets the School Board’s budget. It’s all coming from the same pool of money. More importantly, if we don’t build this as part of School 12, it will be A LOT more expensive to build later on as a standalone facility. We get significant cost savings by combining the build with School 12.

The decision to build the new aquatics facility as part of School 12 is the biggest no-brainer you’re going to have as a citizen of Prince William County. Write an email or make a phone call today and support the Pool at School 12. Below are the email addresses of every official on both boards. Copy and paste into your email and send a note to all of them in support of this new facility.

asatterwhite@pwcs.edu, MJOHNS@pwcs.edu, LJessie@pwcs.edu, MOTAIGBE@pwcs.edu, LBELL@pwcs.edu, skeen@pwcs.edu, GTRENUM@pwcs.edu, BCOVINGTON@pwcs.edu, cstewart@pwcgov.org, wcovington@pwcgov.org, mnohe@pwcgov.org, gainesville@pwcgov.org, jjenkins@pwcgov.org, mcmay@pwcgov.org, mcaddigan@pwcgov.org, FPrincipi@pwcgov.org