OXNARD : Larger Pool Proposed for New High School

The new Oxnard High School under construction on Gonzales Road may have a 25-yard-by-35-yard swimming pool that would be the first of its kind in Ventura County.

At the suggestion of Oxnard High School’s swim coach Larry Raffaelli, the Oxnard Union High School District board has agreed to consider building a rectangular-shaped pool at the new campus that would be longer than the existing L-shaped pool at the existing campus on 5th Street.

The existing pool has a section of deep water divided into six lanes for competitive swimming and another, shallower part for students learning to swim.

The problem with that type of pool, Raffaelli said, is that it has room for only two lanes in the shallow section, which are used for swimming instruction. And most students entering Oxnard High School need to stay in shallow water because they have never learned to swim, he said.

“How are you going to put someone in the deep water who can’t swim?” he said.

Raffaelli suggests following the example of Laguna Beach High School and other schools and colleges around the state that have built 25-yard-by-35-yard pools, which are big enough to have equal sections of shallow and deep water.

Because the pool’s swimming lanes would stretch across the width of the pool instead of across its length, there would be room for six lanes in the deep water and six in the shallow part.

Such a pool would cost an estimated $590,000, about $140,000 more than the projected cost for a 25-yard-by-25-meter pool.

School board member Steve Stocks said he favors spending the extra money to build the larger pool. “It should be good for athletics and also for the P. E. classes,” he said.