Lorraine Loaning, a Monroe-Woodbury district resident, urged the Board of Education on Oct. 8 to reinstate enrichment programs at the district pool, including learn-to-swim classes for children and adults, diving instruction and adult water aerobics.

"As educators, you understand the power of education to change a child's life, but when you teach a child to swim, you may actually save their life," Loaning told the board, citing national drowning data as a public-health rationale for restoring lessons.

Loaning said her own children learned to swim through the district programs and described the suspension of those offerings during the COVID-19 pandemic as a missed opportunity. She told the board that reinstating swim instruction would both improve safety and reengage families with the facility, potentially increasing support for future pool investments. "During the discussions leading up to the turf field vote... Mr. Cahill indicated that pool improvements would be part of a phase B plan," she said, describing prior commitments discussed at earlier meetings.

Loaning cited Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics during her remarks, noting drowning is a leading cause of unintentional injury death for certain child age groups. She asked the board to bring back enrichment swim lessons "as soon as possible." The board took no formal action at the meeting; Loaning's remarks were delivered during public comment.

Board members and staff did not provide a timeline or budget at the Oct. 8 meeting for reinstating lessons. The pool's role in earlier capital discussions and a referenced "phase B" plan were described by the speaker as background context rather than a formal directive recorded at the meeting.