CINCINNATI — For rising ninth and tenth graders Clay and Mo, it finally feels like summer.
“I’m just really glad to be back,” Clay said. “If you don’t even want to swim, there’s a dividing board. And a slide. I love that.”
The two walk to Oakley’s sprayground and pool, managed by the Cincinnati Recreation Commission. It lets them beat the heat and have a place to hang out. Their friends are some of the lifeguards, too.
“Most of the kids are really fun, and there’s not any negative vibes,” Mo said.
That experience is coming to pools city-wide. After three facilities opened last week, 17 more will open on June 3. The rest of the city’s pools open June 10.
It’s the first time all 24 pools have opened in years, thanks to adequate staffing. The city attributes the opening to higher pay and more aggressive recruitment.
“It took me a while before I got the job, but I got the job,” said lifeguard De’Ziara Harvill, who will be on the stand for her second year.
She and her colleagues' starting hourly rate went from $12.95 to $16 an hour, according to Cincinnati Director of Recreation Daniel Betts at a press conference on April 30.
Lifeguards who committed and did early training received a $500 stipend.
“As a 15-year-old, I made a lot of money over the summer,” Harvill said. “The pay is great.”
Ethan Hibbard started as a teen lifeguard. He’s now the city’s aquatic director.
“A lot of people just think you fill up water in the pool and it's ready to go,” Hibbard said. “There is a whole lot that goes … with opening the pools. It takes weeks of preparations to train the staff, clean the pools and make sure all the safety requirements are met."
Over the weekend, Hibbard trained lifeguards that will be dispersed through the city’s newly opened pools on Monday.
“I've always loved being outside and seeing the smiling faces on everybody's face when they walk into the pool for the first time in the summertime,” he said. “That keeps me going every day while we're here.”
City leaders in a press conference last month touted pools as a method of reducing youth violence in the community over the summer.
Daniel Betts, the city’s director of recreation, said the commission is a “tool in the toolbox to help reduce the level of violence in our community,” he said.
This year, CRC will offer teen programming on Saturdays until 11 p.m. beginning June 8.
Like they did last year, school resource officers will work shifts at public pools, police chief Teresa Theetge said.
“Anybody wanting to use a city pool should be able to be confident they can go there, enjoy the swim, enjoy the weather, and be safe while they're there,” Theetge said.
The city is still looking to hire and train more lifeguards, gate attendants, slide attendants and concession attendants.
The classes for lifeguards are offered every week in June at Mount Auburn pool. They take place Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“You can just show up on Monday at 9 a.m. and we’ll get you screened and ready to get into the class right there,” Hibbard said.
