The Toronto District School Board will close 23 swimming pools at city schools beginning June 1 because it has not received extra funding dollars from the provincial or municipal governments.
The board says it can no longer afford the $17-million annual price tag to keep its 78 operational pools open.
Pools at another 16 schools will also be decommissioned in June 2009 as part of the cost-cutting measure, which is expected to save about $4 million each year.
Trustees voted last summer to close the pools if additional funding was not secured by Feb. 1. That date came and went, with both the province and city saying they wouldn't hand over additional cash.
"The board regrets having to close any pools over the next two years," TDSB chairman John Campbell said in a news release on Friday afternoon.
"There is no question of the value of enabling children to learn how to swim and of the benefits of physical activity. Unfortunately, the funding formula used by the Provincial Ministry of Education does not provide school boards the ability to operate and maintain pools."
Pools where the city runs community programs, and pools that are needed for special education programs will remain open.
The board says it will use the $4 million in savings each year towards its budget shortfall or to fund new investments such as the increased number of English as a Second Language teachers approved for 2008-09.
The following is a list of the 23 pools closing this summer:
Elementary
- Carleton Village Senior Public School
- Earl Grey Senior Public School
- Fern Avenue Junior and Senior Public School
- Keele Street Junior Public School & City Community Centre
- Kensington Community School
- Queen Alexandra Senior Public School
- Winona McMurrich Junior Public School
Secondary
- Bickford Centre
- Central Commerce Collegiate
- Central Technical School (1)
- Central Technical School (2)
- Danforth Collegiate & Technical Institute
- Downsview Secondary School
- Forest Hill Collegiate Institute
- George Harvey Collegiate Institute
- George S. Henry Academy
- Jarvis Collegiate Institute
- Monarch Park
- North Toronto Collegiate Institute
- Riverdale Collegiate Institute
- Rosedale Heights Secondary School
- SATEC @ W.A. Porter Collegiate Institute
- Ursula Franklin Academy at Western Technical
The following is a list of the 16 pools slated to close in June 2009:
Elementary
- Allenby Junior Public School
- Deer Park Junior and Senior Public School
- Glenview Senior Public School
Secondary
- AY Jackson Secondary School
- Bloor Collegiate Institute
- Harbord Collegiate Institute
- Humberside Collegiate Institute
- Lawrence Park Collegiate Institute
- Malvern Collegiate Institute
- Northern Secondary School
- Oakwood Collegiate Institute
- Parkdale Collegiate Institute
- RH King Academy
- Stephen Leacock Collegiate Institute
- Western Technical-Commercial School Collegiate Institute
- Westview Centennial Secondary School
Pool rental revenue and the average number of weekly swims were factors in deciding which schools would be closed.
Earlier this year, Ontario Education Minister Kathleen Wynne told CTV Toronto the province has already allocated extra funds for programs such as physical education, which includes pools. She noted no other school board in Ontario runs swimming pools.
The city pays the partial costs of 35 of the board's swimming pools, but says it can't afford to contribute to all pools.
