Archive: Around Town

Swimming is a relatively minor item on the tentative budget reduction list presented by Lansing school officials last week.  If the 'Tier I' cuts are made the program would lose a physical education teacher, one teaching assistant and two assistant coaches to at a savings of of $84,500  out of $927,500 in potential cuts.  It would harm the program, but it would remain viable.  If another $438,000 in 'Tier II' cuts are necessary, however, closing the pool to the tune of $120,000 in savings has been suggested.  Several speakers argued to keep the pool open at Monday's Board Of Education meeting.

"We spent millions of dollars for a football field that we were told only certain people could use," said Lansing firefighter and past fire chief Dennis Griffin.  "That pool is used all the time."

Lansing residents voted to fund the pool in 1973.  The idea was to provide a safe environment for swimming education in a community that is so close to a major lake.  The pool opened in 1974, and serves virtually every segment of the Lansing community from Kindergartners first learning to swim to seniors looking for low impact exercise.  It is used by the very successful and competitive L-Cats swim club as well as varsity teams with strong histories of success.


Girls swim coach Diane Hicks-Hughes led the girls team to her 300th win last September, and she led the team to the number one spot in the Class C sectionals by the end of the season.  In her 30th year coaching swimming at Lansing, Hicks-Hughes teaches aquatics at Lansing High School.

"Closing down the pool totally would be a travesty for the entire community as well as everyone else that uses our facility," she said at Monday's meeting.  "We have open swims, community swims, senior citizen swims, recreational swims.  We have so many things that go on during the day.  The pool opens at 7:30am and it shuts down at 9:30 or 10 at night.  What other facility in our school district is used that much?"

That theme was repeated throughout the evening.

"There are sports -- and we all know what they are -- that benefit only boys, not girls," said parent Baschli Leo.  "Are there cuts to those programs?  Those assistant coaches, the two busses that they take to every game they play?  Where is the equality there?  You have a program that serves boys and girls, senior citizens, little kids, families... why would you cut something that benefits boys and girls -- every single student in grades K-12 -- teaches them how to swim, which is not unimportant, but it also can lead to jobs when they are in high school and college.  Why would you cut something like that?"

Griffin agreed.  He noted that the Lansing Volunteer Fire Department operates one of only two boats that respond to emergencies in Tompkins County.  The boat patrols an area that spans from King Ferry to the City of Ithaca.  Griffin says that water safety training that emergency responders receive at the high school swimming pool is key to keeping that boat running.

Hicks-Hughes said that the swim program is important for students as they prepare for college, as well as training them for jobs they can hold while completing their educations.

"Many students go on to Cornell University where they must take and pass a swim test," she said.  "There are other universities and colleges where students must go on to pass swim tests.  For us to think about cutting our swim program would say that high school students who now have the opportunity to take lifeguard training as a duel credit course for two college credits and water safety instructor for three college credits would no longer exist."

Junior Alex Conte argued for keeping the pool open from a student's perspective.  Conte presented perhaps the most effective arguments because she is an example of the kind of person that has been shaped by the opportunities the pool presents.  Conte is a former modified swimmer, a varsity swimmer, L-Cat swimmer, a lifeguard, and hoping to become a water-safety certified  lifeguard.  On the varsity team she is a strong swimmer on Lansing's first-place relay teams, and took first place this season in various events including the 200 Yard IM, 100 Yard Breaststroke, and 50 Yard Freestyle.


"I just came from open swim where there were 45 people swimming. for exercise, getting together, to play and laugh," she told the board.  "Everybody was enjoying their time and are worried about these cuts.  I am in the pool six days a week swimming for approximately two and a half hours.  This pool is fully put to use.  Look at the calendar in the office: almost every single day there is something going on."

In addition to school programs the pool is used bu other community groups including the Lansing Town Recreation Department.  But the core of the pool's impact is on Lansing students from Kindergarten to 12th grade.  Hicks-Hughes says that even if the pool remains open the cuts will take opportunities away from high school students, who she says would not have the opportunity to meet the new physical fitness curriculum.

"We see approximately 1,200 children every single year, throughout 13 years of their education," she said.  "To our knowledge we have not had one drowning of our students or community members since the pool was built."

Conte summed up what those opportunities have brought her.

"Swimming is a huge part of my life and has brought me friends and teammates," she said.  "Although swimming has been overlooked by the community as an under-the-radar sport, I can tell you it involves the utmost dedication and hard work of all the sports out there.  It an individual sport, forcing one to push the boundaries and learn that hard work is the most important tool for success."

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