Ojai Valley News Blog

For first time in 45 years, Nordhoff’s pool to close as city won’t pay fees

By Sondra Murphy
As the nation’s economic hardships are contended with, Ojai is feeling the pinch in many ways. Ojai Unified School District has especially been dealing with the issue for years and has had to alter some of the fees for campus use of late.

Pool maintenance is expensive and the financially struggling OUSD has been making cutbacks for years in order to preserve the educational programs local parents have come to expect from valley schools. The city of Ojai has also been tightening its belt and expects the trend to continue next year.

The result is that, for the first time in at least 45 years, Nordhoff High School’s pool will not be available for local recreational programs this summer. The reasons are numerous.

The main issue is necessary repairs. “We have an air leak in the filtration line and it’s going to cause equipment failure if we don’t get it fixed,” said Dannielle Pusatere, OUSD assistant superintendent of business and administrative services. She said the line was partially repaired to keep it safely functional for the rest of the swim season, but additional cement work and modifications to meet new standards are needed before school begins in August.

After the contract between OUSD and the city for last year’s pool use was recently worked out, Pusatere informed the city of the delay in the pool’s availability and submitted the fee for the summer.

Pusatere reduced the summer 2008 fee from $17,550 to 13,240 by using the average annual utility rate instead of the higher summer rate. She was also able to decrease the summer 2009 fee from $13,240 to $8,770 because the campus is available fewer weeks to rent the pool. The city declined.

“Part of the reason is the pool is in need of repairs and also the campus is not available until after July 7,” said Dale Sumersille, Ojai Recreation Department director, of the city’s decision. “And funds are certainly a part of it. We are bound by American Red Cross standards to provide proper supervision at all venues. Due to the economic situation at this time, it was cost prohibitive, which is too bad for the kids.”

The Ojai Valley Youth Foundation reminds the community that they offer a variety of programs to combat summer boredom. “When we learned about this situation several weeks ago, we were naturally concerned about this,” said OVYF executive director Joanna Iwata. “We believe it is important for teens and their families to know what will be in place in terms of other options.”

Iwata said that OVYF is offering opportunities in its annual Teen Insight Program from July 9 to 12, a graphics arts program and Ripples, a cultural arts program, runs from June 17 to July 25.

OVYF had hoped that the Ojai Valley Athletic Club would be offering some swim lessons this summer, but staffing issues have made the club unable to confirm that possibility. Many parents are finding they must go outside the Ojai Valley this summer in order to secure swimming lessons for their children.

The city contributed $125,000 in community development block grant funds in 1997 to help upgrade Nordhoff’s pool. In 1995, the city funded $40,000, the recreation department funded $8,000 and OUSD funded $30,000 and took out a loan for $12,000 to replaster the pool.

After OUSD struggled to make more than $2 million in cuts last year, Pusatere pulled out the contract between the city and school district. “In the 1995 agreement, we said we would repay the city by waiving fees from 1996 to 2000. Since I’ve been here, we’ve just been charging $600 a summer,” said Pusatere. “I’d love to not charge anything, but I can’t. We have 3,000 district students to take care of first.”

No one was quite certain how long the city and school district have shared the pool, but Pusatere said that the 1995 contract acknowledged an earlier agreement dated 1964. Costs and regulations have changed over the decades.

OUSD is required to cycle the water four times a day and has converted to using as many frugal practices as possible. “It’s getting out of hand and I’m trying to be energy efficient and economize at the same time and we just can’t afford to do things the same way anymore,” Pusatere said. “I pulled out how much I spent last year, because we totally revamped the pool, and I spent almost $100,000.” 

“People need to know it’s expensive,” Pusatere said. “I want the kids to have a place to learn to swim and it’s hot in Ojai, but the district shouldn’t bear the cost of that.”

In light of the city’s declining use, Pusatere said the district is hopeful that a deal to rent the campus from June 12 to 30 will come to fruition. Sony Pictures and Screen Gems approached OUSD with a request to use the campus for a film shoot. 

The PG-13 movie is set on a high school campus and the use of Nordhoff could mean $50,000 to the district. “I’m trying to fund the school resource officer with that,” said Pusatere. 

For more information on the programs OVYF offers this summer or all year long, call 640-9555 or visit the web site at ovyf.org.