Dear Mayor of San Francisco,

As concerned citizens and San Francisco residents, we are writing to request that the city of San Francisco extend their pool schedules for kids. The current pool schedules are not accommodating to the needs of children who want to swim after school or on weekends. The kids schedules end early in the afternoon and are not long enough on weekends, making it difficult for working parents and busy families to take their kids swimming.

For example, it's been at least 10 years that the two pools in the Mission District of San Francisco (Mission Community Pool and Garfield Aquatic Center) offer very little accommodations for the kids. During the weekdays they are open only 1 hour per day from 2:30 to 3:30pm (most of the year) and most of the kids do not have time to come to the pool since they finish school during those specific times. During the weekends those pools are open only 1hour and 15 minutes for the kids right after lunch and generally during nap times (after lunch) so the little ones can not join.

Swimming is not only fun but also provides numerous health benefits such as improving cardiovascular health and reducing stress. We also believe that it is crucial for children who live near the Bay to learn and practice swimming in a safe and supervised environment. However, many children in San Francisco are unable to enjoy these benefits due to limited access to public pools. Extending pool schedules would provide more opportunities for children in San Francisco to engage in physical activity and improve their overall health and their swimming skills.

We urge you, Mayor of San Francisco, along with other city officials, to consider extending pool schedules so that all children have access to this important recreational activity. We are requesting that starting from next Fall, the pools open for the children at least 3 times a week from 3pm to 7pm and at least 3 hours on Saturdays. We think interchanging kids and adults time slots should play a big part in resolving this issue. Adults should not be the only one allowed to swim after 4pm.

Let the kids have fun in our public pools!

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

San Francisco Residents who love their pools and wish they could go more often with their kids!

 

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PS: do not hesitate to leave a comment when you sign saying at what time your kid finishes school and what the earliest time he could join your closest pool during week days.

PPS: Some parents have shared with their school community this petition, it is a great way to inform parents. If you have the opportunity to do the same, we thank you!

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We got tons of emails with parents explaining their frustration or/and their enthusiasm about the petition. Sharing some here but there are more in the comment section: 

"Thank you so much for starting this. We’ve been wondering why all the times are so challenging to swim w kids! I’ll pass it on.  " -Julie

"Thanks for organizing that, Sandra.  The mission pool schedule is bizarrely anti-family." -Morgan

"100%.  Shared to my school’s listserv."  -Morgan

"Thank you for doing this!  I just shared with our school community (New School of SF)." -Brenna

"100x yes!! I’ll share this widely too. We frequent Garfield Park, but the hours are so slim and often very inconvenient. The fact that they’re closed on Sundays is also particularly frustrating. " - Autumn

"Omg yes!!! I have been wondering how to complain about this, thank you so much for starting this discussion. The hours are insane. I would love to use the public pools, the few times I've been to Garfield pool. I was so impressed with the beautiful facility, and my kid loved it, but there's basically zero time that's convenient to come with a child. And I live in the neighborhood not far away. It's like they specifically scheduled it to make it impossible for families to use." -Irene

"Thank you for pointing out that the one and only slot during the weekend also happens to be during nap time! So frustrating! Thank you for doing something about this." -Anne

"Thanks for setting this up! This a source of frustration for us too - there is so little family swim time and so little of it is at convenient times for kids." - Deanne

"Thank you for doing this! As a swimmer who grew up around pools I was so surprised at the very short hours of some of the city pools! We are so close to Sava pool in the Sunset but had to drive all the way to the Presidio YMCA to get into swimming lessons. It would be amazing if Sundays could be a mix of more lessons and Rec Swim. It’s terrible that many of our beautiful pools are underutilized. So many kids need to learn to swim and they cannot get into a pool because of the limited hours and very limited lessons. In six years we only have been able to get my son in Park and Rec swim lessons once and as a working parent there is noway we could do a weekday at 230pm. Most people need a Rec swim in the late afternoon / evenings. What can we do to change this??" -Karen

"Thank you! My kids have been begging to check out Rossi pool (or Hamilton, but it's being repaired), but it's only open during nap time on Saturdays. Ridiculous!" -Shannon