Ferris Pool Shutdown: How It Affected Three High School Swim Teams A Year Later

Graphic by Edward Andilema / SOC Images.

*Editor’s note: The writer is a member of the McNair High School swimming team.

Every winter, the Ferris pool becomes home to swimmers from three different Jersey City public schools: Ferris, Dickinson and McNair. But during last year’s season (2023-2024), the pool shut down and left swimmers in the dark about any repairs. 

Now over a year later, the pool reopened for the 2024-2025 season; according to the high school athletes, conditions are better, but not to where they need to be. 

“The heating is not perfect by any degree but it is miles better than what it used to be,” said senior swimmer Lola Lam.

Temperatures for a competitive swimming pool should range from 77 to 82 degrees fahrenheit, according to USA Swimming. Throughout last year’s and this year’s season, the pool has been an average of 70 degrees. At times, boiler management has been out of control as temperatures have risen to 84  degrees and dropped to 72.^. 

The pool first broke down in November 2023 because the boiler was said to be broken, forcing students to delay practice, practice in unfamiliar pools and seek answers from the Board of Education after months passed without any significant repairs.

After students from the three schools attended a Board of Education meeting on Jan. 25, 2024 alongside local press, Jersey City Superintendent Dr. Norma Fernandez stated the school was “improving roofs and installing new boilers” to help the situation. The pool became operational before championships, but many students felt they were at an “unfair advantage” because for almost an entire season, the student athletes dealt with inconsistent practices and had to independently source locations to practice to prepare for competition. 

It was only after the meeting that the renovations were sped up and the pool was restored two days before the last state meet. In an interview at the time, a  swimmer revealed, “we were told the pool was fixed about way earlier than when we were allowed to swim in it so it doesn’t really make sense why it took so long?”

With three schools sharing one pool, the teams are expected to abide by a set schedule. Slice of Culture asked one Dickinson student if the school had a pool and, if so, if it gets used; they said it hasn’t been used since they’ve been attending there and they’re “not sure how long it’s been closed for.” 

McNair practices from 6 a.m. to 7:15 a.m., Ferris right after school from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., and Dickinson from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Many students have stated the pools to have constant fluctuating temperatures and to be quite unsanitary, also mentioning the presence of mold, rust and cockroaches.

As a swimmer on the McNair team—a high school that doesn’t have a pool—waking up at 5:30 in the morning is always horrible and in the winter time entering a freezing pool is not ideal. There have been many times throughout our season where people develop sickness and the whole team is out of commission. Whether those illnesses are due to the cold weather or the pool conditions are unknown, but having a reliable working pool is so important to practice sports we all love and stay healthy while doing so.

Fast forward to November 2024, the highschool swim season for Ferris, McNair and Dickison started right on time. From day one, the pool was under much better maintenance and was available for use. The Ferris pool has a better chlorine system and a new pool vacuum cleaner in addition to  new laneline replacements. 

Another McNair swimmer, who asked to not be named, shared, “It’s been better this year…we have the little pool robot and it has been looking a lot cleaner.”

Though there have been improvements, the temperatures still fluctuate around significantly lower degrees, the cleanliness outside the pool is still unsanitary and insects still like to make their presence known every now and then. 

The boys’ locker room experienced a closure for the day on Jan. 24, 2025 due to plumbing failure, but was later fixed, while the girls’ locker room still holds no working showers. 

Generally, the pool is back up and running this season and has garnered overall positive feedback in comparison to last year. While there’s still room for improvement, swimmers and coaches are just glad it’s open for use and hasn’t shown a significant detriment to the three teams this season.

Rounding up the rankings in the HCIAL Championships, the McNair’s boys’ team finished in fourth place while the girls’ finished third. For Ferris, the boys’ team ranked sixth place and the girls wrapped up as the ninth seed. Dickinson had the lowest ranking out of the three schools, with both the boys’ and girls’ teams ending up in 10th place.

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