BOE Rejects $8M CHS Pool Renovation

The South Orange and Maplewood Board of Education has decided against renovating the Columbia High School Pool and instead elected to repurpose the existing pool space for additional classrooms.

The Board voted unanimously to repurpose the space during the Monday, Nov. 18 Board of Ed meeting. Bill Gaudeli was absent from the meeting.

The decision was prompted by an outcry from residents, who urged the Board not to approve the $8.1 million renovation project. Residents even took to an online petition which, as of the Monday meeting, had 467 signatures.

“Since our forum a couple of weeks ago we literally have received hundreds of emails we also know there is a petition out there with over 450 signatures on it against the pool,” said Board of Education President Beth Daugherty.

A majority of the Board members were initially in favor of renovating the pool but about 1/3 or 2/3 of the emails sent to the Board were in opposition, she added.

“We talked about it in the facilities meeting the last time around and now there is more of a feeling that this is not the right time to add an addition to the school for a pool that's squarely on the back of the debt service that's part of the school district budget,” said Daugherty to applause.

The vote was to bond the money for three year's worth of projects that did not include the pool, but the Board would like to see a pool that could be used year-round and keep the tradition of swimming at the high school.

“Based on the information that we now have, I too would like to take the time to do this right” said Board of Education Vice President Sandra Karriem. “I am still very much supportive of having a pool facility for our students, but I do believe there is still a lot of unknown information out there and I want to make sure that we really look at the potential revenues and have a feasible plan to make sure the pool can be self supporting.”

“I believe it is in our best interest to just take the time to make sure we consider all the factors, look for private funding and do it right,” she added.

Click here to watch the Nov. 18 meeting in its entirety.