Thursday, October 1, 2026
Community members turned up at an Olympia City Council meeting on Tuesday, March 3, to make a case for keeping The Evergreen State College pool open.
A number of students, parents and coaches talked about the value of keeping the pool open, as well as the harm it would cause if closed.
The Evergreen State College announced last week that the pool would close at the end of June because of budget constraints.
The pool requires about $60,000 in immediate repairs to meet current state health and safety standards — something the college can't afford.
Speakers said closing the pool would cut high school swim programs, limit access to lifesaving lessons, and eliminate a critical community health resource.
They also pointed out the pool serves as a training facility for competitive athletes and public safety personnel, and serves multiple high school aquatic programs.
Ashton Myrick, a junior at Olympia High School, said his team includes 49 boys and 42 girls, ranging from state-level swimmers to beginners.
“It has plenty of space for a big team, and it also has a diving board," said Myrick at the meeting.
If the facility closes in June as planned, Olympia’s team would likely relocate to North Thurston High School, where Myrick said the program would be significantly impacted.
“If we go to that high school, our school will have to cut our team in half, down to 25 boys. The dive program will be cut or eliminated, and we will have rough hours for our swim team coming back home around 9:30, 10 p.m. on a school day, and it's just not good for our team,” Myrick said.
Crystal Smith, whose daughter Olivia is a freshman swimmer, said the closure would leave teams scrambling for limited pool space in a county already short on aquatic facilities. She noted the children have limited options in the region.
Other community members emphasized the pool’s public benefits.
An Evergreen graduate, who uses the pool five days a week following hip replacement surgery, said her physician has seen significant improvements in her strength, balance and stamina through low-impact water exercise. She added that her husband has experienced similar rehabilitation gains after shoulder surgery.
Olympia High School assistant swim coach Henry Valz called the pool “a vital resource to the community, as much as roads, parks, or government buildings.”
Valz cited data that shows drowning as a leading cause of death for children, and noted children with autism spectrum disorder are at significantly higher risk.
He said professional swim instruction — like that offered through school programs and at Evergreen — dramatically reduces drowning risk by 88 percent in young children ages 1 to 4, and 64 percent for children above 5 years old.
The Olympia swim and dive programs hosted a free camp for 200 children last year and had planned to expand lessons at Evergreen this summer before learning of the impending closure.
By closing the only large public-use pool, Valz said it creates a financial barrier to swimming by disproportionately affecting lower-income families.
“In households with an income less than $50,000, 79 pecent of children have few or no swimming skills,” Valz said. “By having no public pools, Thurston County has created a paywall.”
Brent Barnes recounted how the city previously explored options for a regional aquatic center. A feasibility study completed several years ago estimated construction costs at about $30 million at the time.
Given that price tag, he said it makes financial sense to explore keeping the existing pool at The Evergreen State College open by covering operational costs.
He said the Olympia School District already pays roughly $70,000 annually for high school swim use. He urged the city to work with Evergreen and other partners to help close the remaining funding gap and preserve the facility.
Barnes, who served on Olympia’s Parks & Recreation Advisory Committee from 2020 to 2025, said the pool was once viewed as a potential bridge facility while the city explored building a regional aquatic center. Those plans were shelved due to budget concerns.
“Last week, The Evergreen State College decided to shut down the pool permanently. Because Tumwater, Olympia and associated school districts have never prioritized building pools, this closure decision will impact the viability of six high school swim programs across four schools,” Barnes said.
Dr. William Penn, a longtime community member and volunteer coach, said he has contacted the governor’s office, the lieutenant governor’s office and local legislators in hopes of securing short-term funding to keep the pool open at least through September.
“What I’m proposing to do is get money available so we can keep it open another three months,” said Penn, adding the extension could allow time for a broader coalition, potentially including the city’s parks department, to explore taking over operations.
City Manager Jay Burney said he would contact The Evergreen State College President John Carmichael to clarify financial details surrounding the closure.
“We’re just learning about this with the community,” Burney said. “I’ll get some clarity on kind of what we’re talking about here, what the need is, and get all information to the council just as soon as I can.”
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36098501
Just turn the College over to the UW already.
Evergreen has been run into the ground for over a decade without a care in the world for the taxpayer dollars it every demands year to keep it on life support with no hope for improvement. This problem can't be fixed with the current groups in charge. Unfortunately, that has been an obvious truth for a long time.
There is a reason that all three of the finalists for the College President position suddenly dropped out after visiting the College and working through the on campus interview process. The Evergreen board was even surprised that not a single candidate wanted to pursue the opportunity after visiting.
Apparently, either the Board is too close to the problems to actually see them, or lacks the experience and expertise to solve them. That is a common theme in Olympia and explains the regularity of results with easily foreseeable unintended consequences
Isn't the College at like 40-50% attendance capacity?
This doesn't happen by accident, but by a long term, failing and reckless Board. A Board that is long on ideology and short on ability, accountability and incentive to implement change to achieve improved outcomes. It is unfortunate that Evergreen lost the strong leadership it once had.
This current organizational structure, or lack thereof, will always disappoint and destroy itself in the process. Olympia, the City itself, needs to take notice and avoid a similar organizational collapse. The signs are everywhere that the City is heading down the exact same dangerous path.
Throw Evergreen a lifeline before we have to watch the entire College campus infrastructure go down.
Wednesday, March 4 Report this
JW
It would be par for the course for Olympia to fork over cash for a pool way out in the county.
Wednesday, March 4 Report this
Quadlok
So, enrollment has increased from around 1850 to 2500 since 2021. Still well below when I was there but certainly its going the right way.
Also, its not way out in the county. There's plenty of bus service and its like 2 minutes off the 3rd 101 exit. You can walk to the mall in like an hour.
Wednesday, March 4 Report this
Westside2
36098501 - is your comment from yesterday?
Wednesday, March 4 Report this
Westside2
Be great to save the aquatic recreational facilities that we already have. Both City of Olympia and Tumwater have spent more money on studies telling us what we already know- we need more public pools. Be great if Evergreen would take care of what they have- their decisions impact more than the staff and student body. Their decisions impact the entire area- but especially youth opportunities for healthy choices. Please keep the pool open!
Wednesday, March 4 Report this
BobJacobs
Another program impacted is Senior Games, whose annual meet is held in July.
Bob Jacobs
Wednesday, March 4 Report this
OlyBlues
Good luck getting the city of Olympia to bail out Evergreen's pool. Let's see...what are the priorities for the city they blow millions in taxpayer dollars on? Illegals, anti-ICE virtue signaling, climate change, climate program manager position, homeless industrial complex, electric police vehicles, supporting the Jungle, lobbying for woke priorities to the state, and their overpaid communications department to put out all the spin on all the amazing work the city is doing.
If the city truly had the priorities of taxpaying residents in mind, they could help pay to keep the pool operational but for use by city residents. The reality is that the pool is not even in the city limits. Perhaps a partnership agreement could be reached with cities and sports clubs to keep it open and repair it. It would be a huge loss to the community to lose this asset.
Thursday, March 5 Report this
PBN4884
It feels like local authorities are just letting the school slip into disrepair purposely. My kid attends ESC and loves it. To turn it over to any outside entity rather than invest in local students and community is ridiculous. All any outside entity will do is clear the forest and replace it with concrete. We barely have any green space left as it is. ESC serves a critical function in the area, so invest in it and up its value. The same people screaming to shut it down will be the same ones complaining that it closed. Ignore them and invest in community and local youth.
Thursday, March 5 Report this
KinesthesiaAmnesia
As a Greener Grad and I just wanna look at the silver lining: this should really put an end to all those underwater basket weaving jokes!
On a more serious level, if the community wants to use the resources at TESC then they need to pay for it! No more stealing parking in the nearby apartment complex lots, or parking in fire lanes on the nearby county roads, to avoid TESC parking fees while y'all go take a hike or use the pool. Taking all you can without giving anything back is what's breaking Evergreen!
Thursday, March 5 Report this
SusanKavanaugh00
Thank you, JOLT, for reporting on this issue, complex given difficult budget times and also important to so many community members.
Thursday, March 5 Report this
wolfmanner
Just close " EverRed" and make it a shelter for homeless.
Thursday, March 12 Report this
Wesley
Well, when your city, county, and state prioritize myths like "climate justice", cuts are necessary. Sorry kids.
Wednesday, March 25 Report this