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McDonald schools have lists of goals for future
By Mary Smith
McDONALD
Schools Superintendent Ken Halbert has a short list and a long-term list of work he would like to get done in the district.
Halbert plans work on the cinder track, the high-school stadium and, long term, reopening the high-school pool.
He hopes first to have the high-school cinder track refurbished for use for practice by the track team, physical-education classes and residents to walk on by June.
Some drainage will be put in, grass cut away from where it encroaches on the track and new cinder laid.
By fall, he hopes to have the restrooms, concession stands and locker rooms under the concrete high-school stadium repaired so that they are usable. They have been shut down for three years, he said.
Local companies will be doing the work at a minimal cost to the district, the superintendent said.
In the long-term, Halbert said that in the next two to five years, he is hoping to find a way to reopen the district’s swimming pool, which was shut down to save funds.
Halbert said he is looking for help from a couple of citizens’ groups and the village to get the pool operating again.
The superintendent said he was contacted by a resident who was a member of the Royal Swan Club, a synchronized-swimming team that had been active while the pool was open. She said she would be interested in leading an alumni group to work on reopening the pool.
Halbert said he also has been in discussions with village Mayor Glen Holmes and village Administrator Tom Domitrovich about the possibility of obtaining a grant to help pay for reopening the pool, which was built in 1929.
The pool is believed to be one of the three oldest indoor pools in the state, he said.