People are passionate about aquatics in our district and we are working hard to make improvements to the natatorium. Providing the best resources possible for our students is always the goal.
McAllen ISD leadership is considering pursuing a partnership with an entity to build a new natatorium after some complaints in recent weeks about the district’s current swimming facilities at Nikki Rowe High.
The district doesn’t have a partner lined up, but seems liable to try wooing the city of McAllen on that front. Unofficial talks have already begun and one commissioner says he’s planning to ask for a joint workshop.
Superintendent J.A. Gonzalez told his board Monday that the mayor and commissioners are “leaning forward” on the idea.
“I think this is one where when we synergize that we’ve proven what we can do with the city,” he told trustees Monday. “And you’re right, it would benefit the entire community to have a state of the art natatorium. We’d have Rowe as a backup.”
A city spokesperson declined to comment on the subject, but Commissioner Pepe Cabeza de Vaca told The Monitor Thursday that he had spoken informally to four trustees about a partnership.
Current swimming facilities in town being dated, possible income from holding meets and health benefits all make a natatorium worth discussing, Cabeza de Vaca said.
“Our community needs it. The swimmers want it. And we don’t mind exploring the possibility,” he said, adding that discussions are in very early stages.
The district and the city seriously considered a natatorium project back in 2018, although those talks did not ultimately bear fruit. Trustee Sam Saldivar acknowledged Monday that there was an “undercurrent” against the natatorium at the time.
A couple of trustees noted that other entities may be a possibility for a partnership, though the city seems an obvious first place to start. Cabeza de Vaca said a third partner may be necessary, suggesting a hospital system as a possibility.
The district has been a partner with the city on a variety of relatively high profile projects in recent years, including a collegiate academy, a large expansion at Quinta Mazatlan and improvements to the park around old Crockett Elementary.
“They’re not afraid to ask us for money,” Trustee Conrado “Ito” Alvarado said. “I mean we have, you know, we have helped them in a lot of stuff. Most of the time, you know, when we partnered with them it works out to their advantage. I think they’ll be interested because a natatorium would generate money for them — taxes and all that.”
Big-money partnerships can be hard to enact.
In February of last year the city of Edinburg and Edinburg CISD began pursuing a natatorium partnership fairly aggressively.
However, those talks petered out and the city says it’s no longer in discussions about the project with the district.
The natatorium that opened in Pharr in January of 2022 tends to loom over recent swimming pool talks. A partnership between the city of Pharr, PSJA ISD and UTRGV, resulted in the $26 million state-of-the-art behemoth towers that sit prominently by the expressway.
Even that successful project has its kinks. The city and the school district, for example, refer to it by different official names. City spokeswoman Yuri Gonzalez says talks on that front are ongoing.
Underlying the natatorium talks in McAllen is criticism of the school district’s current natatorium at Rowe High School.
That 20-by-25 yard pool was built in 1990 and has been used for UIL events in swimming and diving.
The pool at Rowe, parents and swimmers who’ve addressed the board in recent weeks say, is lacking.
Those individuals have — mostly politely — lambasted the district during public comment at board meetings for operating a pool with subpar HVAC and filtration infrastructure. Two have described the pool as sometimes being filled with “Gatorade water” because of how murky it is.
“It is insane that we keep doing the same things with the pool and expecting a different outcome,” Vanessa Nelson, a mother of Memorial swimmers, said while telling the board about practice difficulties in February. “Our district has fallen behind PSJA, who has at least two new facilities, and hosted district in that beautiful natatorium this year.”
Regardless of the new natatorium possibility, the district says work is being considered that would address some of the concerns about the Rowe natatorium.
A request for proposals due next week includes upgrades to equipment, chlorinators, pumps, plastering and new lockers.
“People are passionate about aquatics in our district and we are working hard to make improvements to the natatorium,” the district wrote in a statement. “Providing the best resources possible for our students is always the goal.”
