Swim Lessons at PG Pool - New Policy 👎

[Anonymous]

My pool doesn't allow non members to take lessons. These people were taking lessons and then trying to scam their way into staying at the pool to swim.

[Anonymous]

My pool does allow non-members to take lessons, but it’s mainly because they hold lessons at times that aren’t workable for working parents (mid-day weekdays) and otherwise don’t fill the classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:


A lot of those members were not from MtR

Pretty sure anyone can join.

They can. And many are from DC, as evidenced by the license plates in the parking lot.

Not surprising given that the DC border is less than a mile away.

This plus the challenge of getting swim lessons or access to swim team in DC. We don't belong to the PG pool but have friends (in DC) who do and we've been on the waitlist for years. Their kids are older than ours and I have so envied their easy access to swimming lessons and summer swim opportunities as our kids have grown up behind them and we have to patch together DPR lessons (when we can get them which is extremely hit or miss plus even when we DO get them sometimes you end up with a bad coach or staff and half the classes wind up late or canceled because they are so unreliable) or hoof it out the burbs for lessons at one of those suburban swim schools (which are fine but a solid 40 minute drive from our house). For recreational swimming we like DC public pools but they also get very crowded in the summer and have more limited hours.

PG Pool is 15 minutes from our house and would be incredibly convenient. We might get off the waitlist when our kids are in high school!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My pool does allow non-members to take lessons, but it’s mainly because they hold lessons at times that aren’t workable for working parents (mid-day weekdays) and otherwise don’t fill the classes.

I can't imagine PGP would be able to offer as many swim lesson sessions as they do with just the membership. As it takes most families 10 years to get in and their kids are mostly past the age of swim lessons when they join. And there are definitely many current members who did exactly what the swim lessons folks had been doing before they become members...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My pool does allow non-members to take lessons, but it’s mainly because they hold lessons at times that aren’t workable for working parents (mid-day weekdays) and otherwise don’t fill the classes.

I can't imagine PGP would be able to offer as many swim lesson sessions as they do with just the membership. As it takes most families 10 years to get in and their kids are mostly past the age of swim lessons when they join. And there are definitely many current members who did exactly what the swim lessons folks had been doing before they become members...

Its not like they are making money off the lesson. Sounds like the hoi polloi cause more trouble than they are worth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My pool does allow non-members to take lessons, but it’s mainly because they hold lessons at times that aren’t workable for working parents (mid-day weekdays) and otherwise don’t fill the classes.

I can't imagine PGP would be able to offer as many swim lesson sessions as they do with just the membership. As it takes most families 10 years to get in and their kids are mostly past the age of swim lessons when they join. And there are definitely many current members who did exactly what the swim lessons folks had been doing before they become members...

Its not like they are making money off the lesson. Sounds like the hoi polloi cause more trouble than they are worth.

Exactly, IF it is not a money maker for them then just offer as many sessions as the membership can support (I am guessing way less than they are doing now) and just only allow members to sign up. Then all of the pearl clutching can stop.

[Anonymous]

No good deed goes unpunished. Try to help out local kids with swim lessons, get swamped by freeloaders and all their cousins.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No good deed goes unpunished. Try to help out local kids with swim lessons, get swamped by freeloaders and all their cousins.

+1000s

[Anonymous]

Membership pools always have an uneasy relationship with their community. PGpool’s waitlist and racist history makes it more vunerable to criticism - some founded and some probably not. As a member, we take it for what it is: a rundown pool that’s getting g worse, not better, because it doesn’t have to be responsive to members because it has a 10 year long wait list. So what you get is a board that basically self appoints and is responsive to and to the loudest voices and the echo chamber of themselves. This leads to overreactions that jerk the pool from one direction to the next and a lot of effort spent on correcting bad decisions. This seems like an example. I can tell you as a member they are booked solid and members can’t get slots for private lessons. So there have been complaints. Members are told the pool is doing community lessons for the sake of being a good neighbor. But then they don’t manage it, allow people to swim all day as long as it goes under the radar, but when a member notices and complains they jerk back the freedoms. If i lived near cleverly I would be there in a heart beat, simply because the pool is so much nicer. But you can’t beat the convenience. My guess is that the reason for the spike in the membership list is more due to Brookland. It had an influx of young families in the 2010s and they’re like a mile away. We live 3 blocks from the pool and have been members for 20 years. We are a rarity - most people are much newer.

[Anonymous]

Adelphi pool has lovely, quiet neighbors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Adelphi pool has lovely, quiet neighbors.

Lol!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Membership pools always have an uneasy relationship with their community. PGpool’s waitlist and racist history makes it more vunerable to criticism - some founded and some probably not. As a member, we take it for what it is: a rundown pool that’s getting g worse, not better, because it doesn’t have to be responsive to members because it has a 10 year long wait list. So what you get is a board that basically self appoints and is responsive to and to the loudest voices and the echo chamber of themselves. This leads to overreactions that jerk the pool from one direction to the next and a lot of effort spent on correcting bad decisions. This seems like an example. I can tell you as a member they are booked solid and members can’t get slots for private lessons. So there have been complaints. Members are told the pool is doing community lessons for the sake of being a good neighbor. But then they don’t manage it, allow people to swim all day as long as it goes under the radar, but when a member notices and complains they jerk back the freedoms. If i lived near cleverly I would be there in a heart beat, simply because the pool is so much nicer. But you can’t beat the convenience. My guess is that the reason for the spike in the membership list is more due to Brookland. It had an influx of young families in the 2010s and they’re like a mile away. We live 3 blocks from the pool and have been members for 20 years. We are a rarity - most people are much newer.

I don't think your assessment of the board is accurate. I've known a few people who've served on the board over the years (one very close personally) and from what I can see, they do MANY hours of work both in season and off season to keep the pool running as smoothly as possible. They are earnest people who genuinely want pool members to be able to enjoy the pool. Very few people volunteer to be on the board because it takes a lot of time and comes with a lot of abuse both from members and non-members. You make it sound like people are beating down the door to join the board and that the current board is turning them away.
It's a coop pool and the model is designed for the members to all work together to make the pool what they want it to be but that requires member involvement and as the pool has grown and more new members join, there is less of a culture of this.
Sure, the facilities could be fancier but that would cost more. The fees are extravagantly low for the area.
Many people LOVE this pool and what it offers.