ABOVE: The indoor pool at Martin County West Elementary School in Sherburn will close for good on Aug. 11. The pool has been in existence since the school building was built in 1970.

SHERBURN– The indoor swimming pool located in Martin County West Elementary School in Sherburn will close for good next month. The pool has been part of the school– and community– since its inception in 1970.

MCW’s Community Education and Recreation Director, Nickole Bowie, said that the decision to close wasn’t an easy one to make, but that it was something the school board had been considering for quite some time.

“It’s a lot of things combined. Our pool is aging. The equipment is starting to get old and it’s hard to find replacement parts,” Bowie said.

She said that it’s costly to run the pool once you factor in utilities, maintenance, replacement parts and staffing. Bowie said that they’ve had a hard time finding someone certified to teach swimming lessons.

“A big part of having a pool is education and if we can’t have swimming lessons then we’re not teaching kids to swim,” she pointed out.

Mostly though, it comes down to budget reasons.

“We can’t make ends meet with the pool,” Bowie said.

The pool has been open year-round and despite having a presence in the community for more than 50 years, Bowie said there are still people in the community who don’t know about it.

“That was a big push for me when I took over three years ago. I wanted people in the public to use the pool,” Bowie said.

Not only is it open to the public but students in the MCW school district have been able to use the pool as part of their physical education curriculum.

For public offerings, there’s self-lead fitness swim and water aerobic classes, adult open swim, and student open swim. There’s also a special needs swim once a week which Bowie said they see good attendance at. However it still hasn’t been enough.

“It’s sad. We’re losing something that’s been here since the building has been here. We’ve tried things… but financially it’s restrictive,” Bowie said.

In the past there have been advertisements for free community swims and Bowie said they have have pushed for pool parties where people could reserve the pool for birthday parties but nothing has stuck.

“We’re to a point where a decision had to be made and it’s not a happy decision but it’s fiscally responsible,” Bowie said.

She stressed that the decision to close would have been made even if the referendum for a new school building had not passed. As it is, the school building will either be sold or demolished and with it the pool.

Right now Bowie said there are a lot of pool passes that haven’t been used so she would like to see people use them before the pool closes on Aug. 11, therefore MCW CER is planning to host one final big swim and Bowie said they are tentatively looking at dates in early August.

We want to make sure that people have the opportunity to use it one last time if it means something to them,” Bowie said.