PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The Philadelphia School Board is expected to vote Thursday on a $10 million project to reopen the swimming pool at Sayre High School in West Philadelphia.
The pool at the Sayre-Morris Rec Center has been shut down for more than four years because of its dilapidated building. The School District of Philadelphia owns the building at 58th and Spruce streets — adjacent to Sayre High — and the district has already budgeted for a $775,000 roof replacement.
The school board is being asked to approve $9 million more in capital spending to pay for structural repairs, electrical and mechanical upgrades, new doors, new lighting, and bathroom renovations.
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Before its closure, the city trained lifeguards in the Olympic-sized pool, which was available to the public when the district wasn’t using it. During a time of record gun violence, the Cobbs Creek community has been clamoring for the pool’s reopening.
“The community deserves this. They have been crying out, pushing for this investment,” said Third District City Councilmember Jamie Gauthier. “For me, it was shocking to visit this site and realize that we have this amazing, wonderful asset that we’re just allowing to sit in disrepair.”
Gauthier said her office had an estimate from several years ago that the building renovations could be done for $3.5 million. She couldn’t explain the district’s estimate of $10 million.
