Bernie Wolfe School Pool faces murky future

Push to keep pool in Bernie Wolfe open Gabrielle Marchand reports on what Transcona residents are doing to try and save a pool that could shutter as soon as June.

The Bernie Wolfe School Pool is set to be decommissioned at the end of the school year, as the River East Transcona School Division revises its agreement with the City of Winnipeg.

A spokesperson for the school division told CTV News by email the pool is being shut down because it’s not being used by the school or school division and brings additional operating costs. The school division also said it’s projecting an increase in enrolment at Bernie Wolfe School and the space would be better used for teaching.

The city confirmed the impending closure saying that any aquatic programming would be relocated to the Transcona Kinsmen Centennial Pool or Elmwood Kildonans Pool.

According to a schedule on the city of Winnipeg website, swimming lessons are being offered at the pool through to June 8 on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

Meanwhile some residents are circulating flyers calling for the pool to be saved and encouraging people who live in the area to reach out to their city councillor.

When asked about the closure at city hall, Transcona councillor Shawn Nason said his focus was pushing to ensure aquatic programming was moved to another facility so classes would not be dropped.

“It’s never a good thing when we’re losing assets in the community. This pool has been around for decades,” Nason said.

Rosemary McCutcheon has lived across from Bernie Wolfe School since 1976 and watched her kids grow up using the pool.

McCutcheon said she worried that people were increasingly being forced to leave their neighbourhoods to access things like swimming lessons.

“Taking it out of the commmunity takes away from what the community school was supposed to be in the first place,” McCutcheon said.

“It was supposed to be so in this community we had everything in that school that our kids could want or need.”