Plymouth students will soon have more opportunities to go swimming. An agreement giving the Plymouth Community School Corporation additional use of the Dr. Susan Bardwell Aquatic Center was approved by the school board Tuesday.
That could let the school corporation build its swim program by hosting camps and clinics, and providing a facility for a middle school swim team. It would also let the schools use the Aquatic Center for PE classes or other field trips.
But the agreement is also a way to bring in more money to sustain the Aquatic Center’s operations, according to Plymouth City Attorney Sean Surrisi. “Most of you are aware of some of the challenges that we faced with the facility over the last year-and-a-half or so,” he told the school board. “I think we are on the right track toward having a sustainable plan to implement later this summer for the long-term operations success, and part of that plan is this additional financial contribution for this use through the school corporation.”
Under the agreement, Plymouth Schools will pay another $50,000 a year, in addition to the $90,000 it already pays. It doesn’t specify a maximum number of hours, according to School Corporation Attorney Jeff Houin, but a lot of the time originally allocated to Ancilla College has since been freed up. In any case, school officials felt it was much cheaper than operating a pool at the school.
