October 06, 2004

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Palo Alto Online

A tale of two pools

by Alexandria Rocha

Thanks to a large private donation, construction of a new aquatic center worth millions at Palo Alto High School is expected to begin next month.

"(Our) pool is old and tired. I'm very thankful that the funds have been raised for a new pool," said Kelly Jensen, a senior and swimmer at Paly.

But across town, things are not as cheerful. Fund-raisers for a new pool at Gunn High School are still digging through old yearbooks in search of potential donors. They have so far raised only $200,000 toward a pool that could cost about $4 million.

"We're basing this on hundreds of families writing hundreds of checks for $100 and $50," said Larry Graves, president of the Gunn Boosters. "We're looking at nickel and diming this stuff."

Despite the disparity, fundraisers at Gunn are happy that at least one school is moving forward with construction.

"We support Paly to continue their plans for this project," said Fran Codispoti, a Gunn Booster Club representative, at a Board of Education meeting earlier this year.

Codispoti's warm attitude, however, is a far cry from how other folks reacted this spring when the private donor came forward to fund Paly's pool.

"Some people were upset because they said all that money should have gone in a joint fund," said board member Mandy Lowell.

Apparently, that was the original plan.

Two years ago, parents from both schools approached the board about launching a joint campaign to raise $8 million for two pools. The board liked the idea and set guidelines to ensure one school wouldn't get a pool while the other fell far behind.

Under the campaign's design, the fund-raisers could not approach the city's big ticket donors individually. They could only do so as a unified group, raising money simultaneously for both pools.

The plan, however, also allowed parents to approach a specific site's alumni, as well as feeder school parents. The idea was to encourage any potential donor to contribute to the joint fund, rather than just one school.

The campaign's design ultimately left the window open for one school to receive a huge donation. It didn't take long for that happen.

A private donor, whose eighth-grade son would soon attend Paly, wanted to see a pool at that school come to fruition sooner, rather than later. He offered to front the whole bill.

In accordance with the plan, a board member and principal sat down face to face with the donor to encourage him to split the contribution between both schools.

"They made the pitch why it made sense to raise for a joint fund," Lowell said. "He frankly just disagreed. He thought Gunn would have a greater chance of getting a pool if Paly was building one." with the donor to encourage him to split the contribution between both schools.

Despite the plan to move forward as a joint group, Lowell said that board members quickly stopped "wringing their hands over a private donor coming forward to give a public school a pool that all the kids in the community can benefit from."

Now the parents fund raising for Gunn are far from making a pool at that site a reality. Graves said $200,000 will barely allow the group to hire a design firm to draft up plans for the pool.

"Since the funding is so limited, we're having to break this down into baby steps," he added.

The other option to small-time fund raising, Graves said, is to wait and see whether the district tries to float a bond measure in 2005, which could possibly fund construction of a pool at Gunn.

Alexandria Rocha can be e-mailed at arocha@paweekly.com

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