(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — A west suburban park district has decided to close one of its three aquatic centers this summer because it will not have enough lifeguards to staff all locations.
The Fox Valley Park District would need 160 lifeguards for all three of its aquatic centers but it only has 64 right now, with the prospect of winding up with around 90.
“Right now, we have 26 lifeguards scheduled to be taking classes over the next month so we know we’re going to get to that 90, but we know that 160 is too far out of reach to open up all three,” Recreation Supt. Sandie Gilmer said.
That will still mean barebones coverage at Splash Country Water Park and the Vaughan Aquatic Center, with no after-hours swimming or special events. The aquatic center at Phillips Park will be closed this summer.
“It used to be the job to have when I was in high school. I worked at the Bolingbrook Park District, and we never had an issue staffing 20 years ago,” Gilmer said.
It’s not for lack of trying that the district serving Aurora, North Aurora and Montgomery will not have enough lifeguards, she said.
“We have been going to several job fairs. We hosted a job fair. We’ve been in the schools all month recruiting at lunch tables and currently we are only at 64 lifeguards,” she said.
On social media, some have wondered how it came to be that the Phillips Park Aquatic Center will be closed this summer and not Splash Country. Supt. Gilmer says it comes down to numbers, for the most part. She says Splash Country Water Park has a capacity of 2,000.
“It actually has a larger capacity than Phillips Park, and that’s part of why we picked that park. Because, had we just gone with Phillips, we would have had a capacity of 500 less.”
Lifeguard shortages are happening nationwide, she said.
At Fox Valley Park District, the job pays $15 an hour.
In order to meet the 90 lifeguard threshold, Gilmer said the district may have to hire some lifeguards who can pass the shallow-water certification test and not the deep-water certification test. Those with the shallow water certification would not be able to work at the Vaughan Aquatic Center because the zero-depth pool there gradually reaches 12 feet deep.
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