More than 500 students from RH King Academy marched to the office of their MPP on Friday and delivered a 1,700-signature petition to keep Toronto's school swimming pools open.

Their's is one of 39 pools slated to be drained over the next two years as part of a cost-cutting measure.

Upset teens and teachers held a rally at RH King on Tuesday voicing their displeasure about the pool closures.

Between 50 and 60 per cent of the school's students don't know how to swim, and they say swimming is a vital life skill.

The teens marched to MPP Lorenzo Berardinetti's office and delivered the petition on Friday afternoon.

The protest was one of a number of demonstrations held at various schools this week. On Thursday night, close to 200 swimmers, coaches and parents waved signs and chanted "save our pools" in a loud rally outside the Toronto District School Board office.

Parents said they are concerned about decommissioning the school pools.

"What will happen if they lose the pools is that we have to pay more fees in swimming and right now we have limited funds to support my son," one mother told CTV Toronto.

The board's planning and priorities committee voted on Thursday night to begin giving notice to the 32 aquatic staff that will be affected by the first wave of closures. Twenty-three pools are scheduled to close this June while another 16 are slated to be emptied in June 2009.

The board says it can no longer afford the $17-million annual price tag to keep its 78 operational pools open. The board asked for more funding from the province and municipal government, but didn't receive any.

School trustee Howard Goodman says Ontario's Education Ministry does not include costs for swimming pools in its funding formula. He says students are not being used as pawns in the dispute.

"It's not us that are putting the students and the swimmers in the middle," Goodman said Thursday night.

Trustee Josh Matlow says he will introduce a motion next week to review the closure decision.

"I think we need to keep them open and like mature adults continue to negotiate with the province and also work with other corporate partners," Matlow said.

Many trustees say the $4 million expected to be saved from the pool closures each year should be spent on other programs such as English as a Second Language.

A final vote on the pools comes before the board on Wednesday night.

With a report from CTV Toronto's Dana Levenson