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City Colleges to Reopen Pools After Near Drowning, But Staff 'In Limbo'

 Pools at Kennedy-King College and three other City Colleges, which have been closed since October after a student nearly drowned, will reopen in February 2015. But Rudolph Henry and other pool staff still don't know if they will get their jobs back.
Pools at Kennedy-King College and three other City Colleges, which have been closed since October after a student nearly drowned, will reopen in February 2015. But Rudolph Henry and other pool staff still don't know if they will get their jobs back.
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DNAinfo

CHICAGO — After closing four pools at City Colleges of Chicago after a student nearly drowned in October, school officials said that the pools will reopen next month.

The decision to reopen the pools came after a volunteer instructor started a petition drive that garnered 2,000 signatures in favor of opening them again, although school officials denied that influenced the decision.

“City Colleges of Chicago is pleased to announce that after an exhaustive review of best practices, its four aquatic facilities will reopen in February,” spokeswoman Katheryn Hayes said in an email. “CCC will continue to bring high-quality and safe aquatics programs to students, faculty, staff and the community.”

However, aquatic staff at Kennedy-King College in Englewood, where the incident took place, said they were suspended and still don't know if they will get their jobs back.

Daley College, Olive-Harvey College, Wilbur Wright College and Kennedy-King College are slated to reopen their aquatic facilities on Feb. 9 (pools at Malcolm X and Truman, which had closed previously for unrelated reasons, will remain shut).

Students can begin registering for both credit and continuing education pool classes as early as Jan. 12. The classes will be held during the latter half of the spring session, which begins on Feb. 9.

The colleges also offer classes to children and community members.

New positions are being added at each of the colleges. Each of the four pools will now be overseen by a coordinator who will be responsible for oversight of daily operations, as well as compliance, Hayes said.

It’s not yet known if former staff will be allowed to return.

“City Colleges plans to staff back-up, we do not have specific personnel information,” Hayes said.

When Kennedy-King College in Englewood shut down its pool in October, the aquatic staff was suspended.

That included Rudolph Henry, 62, an adjunct instructor who said he actually rescued the female adult student in his class who nearly drowned. He declined to share more details, citing the ongoing investigation and Hayes did not provide details of the incident.

Henry, who has been with the college for more than 20 years, said he really wants to return because he has a strong connection with his students because he grew up in neighborhood. He now lives in Roseland.

As of Wednesday, he said he remained in "limbo."

“I’m not fully released, but then again, I’m not fully on,” he said. "This is perplexing; either I'm in or I'm not, what's the secret?"

For people like Phyllis Curtwright, the news of the pool's reopening comes as a welcome relief, but she said the fight isn't over.

She began volunteering as a swim instructor, assisting Henry, back in July. When the college closed its pool, she was upset and disappointed. As the closure dragged on, she decided to start an online petition.

While her goal was to get at least 300 signatures, in less than three weeks, Curtwright’s Change.org petition gained nearly 2,000 signatures.

“I’m actually overwhelmed,” she said, adding that the comments people have left her have been inspiring and encouraging.

Hayes did not say whether City Colleges was aware of the petition. Through an email she only said, "The only factor in the decision to re-open the pools and its timing was our review of best practices."

Curtwright said that the swimming classes offered at Kennedy-King are better than those at the Chicago Park District. She also said that more African-American youth need to be exposed to swimming. Offering the Englewood community access was a positive thing that should have never stopped, she said.

Henry said he isn’t pleased with the interruption either.

“There are so many avenues when people are exposed to the aquatic environment,” he said. “They can become an aquatic biologist, marine biologist and even an underwater welder and all these careers are attributed to the aquatic introduction."

He said he is happy that Curtwright started the petition because it brought more awareness of the issue. 

Curtwright, who is a retired teacher from Chicago Public Schools, said she had no choice but to fight for the reopenings.

“Swimming isn’t a luxury anymore, it’s a necessity,” she said.

Curtwright is closing down the petition and will now fight to ensure that Henry keeps his job. She said she has already started reaching out to local community leaders to join in.

"I'm going to pull back and make this be a group effort," she said. "I want to protect his job. He is truly worthy of getting reinstated."

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