Hinsdale Central Pool Closed Until October, Which Upsets Parents

HINSDALE, IL – Hinsdale Central High School's 3-year-old pool will be closed until Oct. 1, well into girls swim team's season, officials say.

The delay concerns the parents of swim team members.

The pool closed May 1, but the plan was for it to reopen in time for the girls swim season.

After the new pool was completed, the tile deck tented and cracked, officials said.

The contractor, Pepper Construction, is now replacing the pool deck tile, an ongoing problem since the company finished the pool in summer 2021.

The contractor conducted a test Friday of the latest work to see whether it meets standards. The results may become publicly available Tuesday, a school spokesman said.

If the test is negative, the opening may be delayed past Oct. 1.

The late opening means the swim team will hold its practices and meets at Hinsdale South High School in Darien and FMC Natatorium in Westmont, officials said.

Hinsdale High School District 86 says it is not footing the bill for the work to correct the pool's problems.

But the district acknowledges it will pay for the use of places such as FMC Natatorium and transportation of students to the practice sites.

The district is also giving up rental income from other groups that use the pool.

The delays have been the focus of the school board's facilities committee meetings on July 12 and last Friday. Pepper representatives attended both to provide updates.

At Friday's meeting, Wayne Driscoll, the father of a girls swim team member, said the late opening means the girls will have to be elsewhere for two-thirds of the season.

He called the situation "ridiculous," saying the pool's problems were obvious within a few weeks of opening.

The independent investigation into the tile should have been completed by the end of the boys swimming season in early 2023, Driscoll said.

Because of the delay, though, "another season of damage occurred on the deck," he said.

Driscoll also said the district could have done a better job communicating the issues with the public. He noted the frequently-asked-questions feature about the pool's problems still says it will open by the time the girls swim season starts, which is next week.

As of Tuesday morning, this statement remains on the school's website.

Responding to Driscoll, school board member Jeff Waters said it was difficult to update the website when "the clarity of the path is not clear."

"The last thing we want to do is update it again and again and again," Waters said.

Coach Bob Barber told the committee that the team's replacement facilities are smaller, so holding practices would be harder. He said the team was stretching itself "pretty thin."

"We are very fortunate to have relationships with Hinsdale South and FMC," the coach said. "Obviously, there's a price."

In recent years, District 86 built new pools for Central and South. The work was part of the 2019 referendum where voters approved the district going into debt by $140 million for a variety of projects.

In 2023, Patch reported the district did now know how much either of the pools cost taxpayers.

The district said the bid packages were structured by trade, school and phase and never subdivided by project or space.

In 2019, the district estimated the costs for the Central and South pools were $17 million and $7.3 million, respectively.