(Excerpt from communications from Joe Mihevc)
Yesterday evening the Toronto District School Board voted to keep the remaining 9 pools that were on a list for possible closure open. This means that the Winona School Pool will be made available for use by the school and in the evenings/weekends/holidays for programming.
This is such good news for Toronto and for the community around Winona School. The saving of these school pools came as a result of hard work and good advocacy on the part of so many people. In our community, there was a spirited campaign that saw over 800 responses and questionnaires filled out and a new St Clair West Aquatics Club formed. The work around Winona Pool was singled out by Toronto Lands Corporation's Karen Pitre in her presentation to the TDSB as a great model of community development work.
Thanks to local Trustee Josh Matlow and MPP Dr. Eric Hoskins for their work and support. Thanks to everyone who wrote letters, encouraged creativity, and thought outside the box. In the end the solution to save the pools was a "ground up" solution which in the end will see the pools used more by the community. The Winona Pool is a wonderful local resource and needs to become better known and used.
The task ahead is now to develop the programming at the Winona Pool. The new board of directors of the St Clair West Aquatics Club has been selected, and they are busy putting together a set of programs based on the desires identified by you in the questionnaire. Program opportunities will be made available shortly. Their website is www.stclairaquatics.ca.
