Facilities Meeting

Rochester Public School is looking at a possible referendum in 2019. In the “other additional needs of the district” there is discussion of funding stadium renovations at Century, John Marshall and a pool at Century. This is a chance to explain the importance of turf fields at Century and John Marshall, Century restrooms and concession stand and a Century pool.

The Superintendents Task Force – Citizen Voice Input Session is open to the general public November 7 from 5:30-7:30 pm.

Those who choose to attend will have a chance to give feedback in a small group setting.

Those who cannot attend:

During the live broadcast, community members can give input on the question by using google.

Facts about Century Swimming & Diving

Century high school swimming and diving teams have never had a pool to call their own. This has always made it very challenging to practice as well as compete. The logistics of having three high school teams, one full competition pool (John Marshall - swimming and diving) and one partial competition pool (Mayo – swimming only) makes scheduling practices and competitions very complicated. All other pools in the school district are either non-legal in length (a competition pool must be 25 yards in length), and/or not large enough to accommodate a team (John Adams and Kellogg are 4 lanes wide and are not 25 yards in length). Willow Creek is 6 lanes wide and of legal length for practice, but not deep enough for diving nor is there deck space to host a competition. It should also be noted that the Mayo High School pool has very limited deck space and thus has a maximum capacity that is quickly exceeded when larger teams come for competition (e.g., Century Girls has averaged 60 athletes for several years).

An example practice day for a female Century Junior Varsity swimmer is to travel from their home school (e.g., Kellogg Middle School or Century High School) to Willow Creek Middle School to practice from 4:00-5:30 PM. A varsity swimmer practices from 5:30 – 7:30 PM, also at Willow Creek. A Century diver practices at the John Marshall pool from either 6:15 –7:30 PM or 7:30 – 8:45 PM.

Competitions for Century Girls’ Swimming and Diving are held at the John Marshall pool. These meets must be started at 6:30 PM (swim/dive competitions traditionally start at 6:00 PM), so that the John Marshall swimmers can finish their practice by 5:30 PM. A six-lane pool is very small to host swimming and diving competitions when the diving board takes up two lanes. This means that two lanes per team are available to warm-up 60-70 athletes. Safety is always a concern when this many athletes are all trying to warm-up at the same time.

Century male swimmers’ practice and compete at Mayo high school, swapping practice times on days where either team has a “home” meet (Century boys swimming and diving also starts their home meets at 6:30 PM, not 6:00 PM). Home meets at Mayo High School for both Mayo and Century are split with the diving competition held at John Marshall. In the situation where John Marshall is also hosting a home meet on the same night, there will be four teams diving during the John Marshall dual meet (significantly extending the time of the meet for John Marshall).

There is not only confusion around what pool to be at which day and at what time, but also for travel. Century swimmers and divers spend the majority of their time away from Century. When the team travels to an “away” meet, they leave from Century. New parents to the team are presented with significant challenges, first with where to be on any given day, and second, with how to get their child to the right pool at the right time. Century has lost many swimmers and divers simply because the logistics of traveling across the city is not possible for working parents.

All three high school swimming and diving teams are faced with logistical challenges around running practices and hosting meets. The facilities are all aging and if any of the pools are out of service, teams must make significant sacrifices. Recently, the power was out at Willow Creek prior to the beginning of a Century Girls’ swimming JV practice. This practice had to be cancelled and a shortened practice for the varsity team was held at Mayo after the Mayo team completed their practice. If this had happened on a night that Mayo was hosting a meet, Century could not have had any practice. If the John Marshall pool is out of service during either the girls or boys seasons, no Rochester high school team can host a meet as John Marshall is the only pool in the district that can host diving.