AGE DISCRIMINATION BY BURGESS POOL MANAGEMENT
It would appear that Tim Sheeper has delegated management of the Burgess pool, and it seems to me, at least based on the draft programs for the summer, that this has changed the character of the pool to one that caters more to athletes and budding athletes, virtually excluding programs previously offered to the elderly and physically compromised segment of the population. The draft program retains the old MWF 8 a.m. cardio workout but totally eliminates the old 9 and 10 a.m. Keep Fit classes for the elderly (of two levels of ability) that were expertly taught by Sheralee Beebe, it indicates that there is either some personal animus involved, or the new management sees the presence of old people as some kind of stigma attached to the young, athletic image of the pool participants.
The lease mandates that the pool be available to those of all abilities. That is not what the draft schedule for June to August depicts.
The large cool Performance Pool is understandably dedicated to those more athletic swimmers. These people often have other avenues for exercise in addition to swimming activities, in which older persons cannot usually participate: That pool allocates:
17 hours for the Masters program all 11 lanes; (187 hours)
29 hours for the Swim Team all 11 lanes; (319 hours)
4 hours for Underwater Hockey all 11 lanes; and (44 hours)
45 hours for laps all 11 lanes. (495 hours_ Total: 1045 hours
Baby Pool 3 hours/day, 1 family at a time (28 hours)
The warmer, small Instructional Pool with a total of six lanes devotes
12 hours all 6 lanes available for laps; (84 hours)
24 hours 2 lanes for laps; (48 hours)
12 hours all lanes for open swim; (84 hours)
3 hours 2 lanes for Open Swim (6 hours)
12 hours 4 lanes Youth teams (48 hours)
(Youth teams seems to be a Palo Alto/Stanford group)
40 hours of all lanes for Lessons and camps (240 hours)
Total: (510 hours
By contrast:
Aquafit Programs had three distinct components for three levels of abilities and used to have 11 hours/week using 2 to 4 lanes and shared the shallow area with toddler lessons.
Now it is proposed to reduce this time to just 3 hours using a total of 12 lanes, (36 hours) thus eliminating both classes for those of more limited abilities, leaving only the cardio class. These are the very people that have a greater need for aquatic activity in that it is often the only exercise that many can do without pain, and is therapeutic for post surgical patients. The result is that the entire elderly population has less time than the babies in the toddler pool.
BOTTOM LINE:
• The draft schedule demonstrates blatant age discrimination against the elderly, and possible animus directed at a very popular and skillful teacher perhaps on the basis of lack of athletic image of the aged group.
• San Mateo County is progressing towards the yellow tier which will eliminate most covid restrictions making it less difficult to accommodate more swimmers in a limited space.
• Programs directed towards children are labor intensive in that they require more staff to supervise, and liability is a huge issue as was aptlydemonstrated last year by various incidents involving at least one near fatal accident.
• Aquafit programs usually only require one instructor, and liability issues are less since the participants tend to use buoyancy equipment and have more self survival skills than young kids.
• The elderly participating in the programs geared towards that population have all been fully vaccinated and present little danger of infecting others or being infected by covid.
• During the last year of full operation there were several incidents where aquafit classes were cut short because a child had contaminated the water. This is less likely to occur with adults.
• The non-cardio aquafit classes usually make a lot less noise than the youth programs
• For argument, how many Underwater Hockey participants are there compared to how many elderly participate in pool activities, and have done for years?
• It was the Aquafit community that pushed for the two pools decades ago when the pool renovation was planned.
It is not my intention to begrudge athletes or kids their time, but the intention of the city was that the pool be a community pool available to all ages and abilities. It does not appear to be what is now planned. Hopefully the draft schedule can be adjusted to be more fair, and hopefully Sheralee can be induced to teach her very popular classes.
