By Joan Nelson
and Chris Cunningham
The Scene staff
Open hours in Forest Park’s indoor swimming pool have been reduced for the summer due to lack of funding.
Students, faculty and staff used to have pool access one hour a day, four days a week, even if they weren’t enrolled in classes. Now they can only swim two days a week.
“The cutback is due to budget concerns,” said Mark Applegate, aquatics coordinator and instructor.
The change comes on the heels of another reduction in fitness opportunities at Forest Park. The college eliminated open hours in the weight room this summer.
The swimming pool is in the Physical Education building on the east side of campus.
“Our primary responsibility when we keep the pool open is heating the pool, changing the chemicals, making repairs and having a lifeguard on duty,” Applegate said.
Open pool hours were 9 to 10 a.m. Mondays and Wednesdays and noon to 1 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays before the change. Hours were reduced to Tuesdays and Thursdays only.
That was disappointing news for Ronald Hughes, associate English professor.
“I was going there Mondays and Wednesdays,” he said. “I was really pleased because there were a lot of people at the pool.”
Now that the pool is closed on Mondays and Wednesdays, Hughes has had to find another place to swim.
Lifeguards earn $10 an hour at Forest Park, so eliminating eight hours of open swim time saves $80 a month.
“I was surprised by the cutback of the hours,” said lifeguard Ethan Farnsworth, 22. “But (they) were so few, the closing won’t affect me.”
Beyond open hours, the pool is being used for one class, Swimming II, this summer.
Applegate estimates that 15 to 20 people use the pool during each open swim hour.
Officials haven’t yet determined open hours for the fall.
“If classes don’t make, we will have money for open swimming hours,” said Sue Martin, physical education instructor and chair of human services and education. “If classes do make, we will have less hours for open swim.”