Concord, MA - Beede Center and CCHS Swim & Dive Team FAQ's
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http://www.concordma.gov/pages/ConcordMA_Recreation/faq?textPage=1
Beede Center and CCHS Swim & Dive Team FAQ's Frequently Asked Questions Regarding the Beede Center and its relationship to the Concord-Carlisle High School Swim & Dive Team 1. Could you provide a brief Overview of the Beede Center? Description of Facility The Beede Swim & Fitness Center is located on the campus of the Concord-Carlisle Regional High School. The Town of Concord leases the land on which the Beede Center is located. The facility opened in April of 2006, and consists of a lobby area and two exercise rooms on the upper level, one for strength training and the other for aerobics; on the lower level there are four swimming pools: an eight-lane, 25 yard by 25 meter competition lap-pool, a 12-foot deep diving well with three diving stations, a children’s wading pool, and a four-foot deep warm-water therapy pool. Staffing The Center is operated by the Recreation Department staff, working under Recreation Director Danner DeStephano. Senior Manager Assistant Recreation Director Pam Higgins, assisted by Jon Straggas, Recreation Coordinator manages the Beede Center. Jan MacCulloch, Fitness Coordinator manages the fitness division and Karen Houghton, Aquatics, assisted by Michael Caruso; Assistant Aquatics Coordinator manages the aquatic division .The Center employs 14 full-time and about 56 part-time staff, including fitness trainers working in the fitness rooms, as well as lifeguards and swim instructors working in the pool area. Budget The operating budget for the Beede Center for fiscal year 2009 is projected to be about $2,150,000.
REVENUES Memberships Program Income Other Income
$1,717,000 344,000 82,000
EXPENSES Staffing
$1,242,429
Utilities
447,900
Depreciation
308,000
Supplies/Other Expenses
198,503
MEMBERSHIP SUMMARY Individual Memberships
837
Family Memberships
1,227
Total Memberships
2064
Total Members
5,500
2. What is the relationship between the Beede Center and the Concord-Carlisle Regional High School?
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Concord, MA - Beede Center and CCHS Swim & Dive Team FAQ's
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http://www.concordma.gov/pages/ConcordMA_Recreation/faq?textPage=1
The Regional High School provided the land on which the Center is located, and the Town operates the facility. The Center was a gift to the Town from a group of generous donors. There is an “Intergovernmental Agreement” between the Town (acting through the Town Manager) and the Regional School Committee regarding the use and operation of the Center. This Agreement was executed in 2004 and runs for 25 years. 3. What kind of access does the Agreement provide for CCHS students and teams to use the Beede Center? The Agreement provides for the Swim & Dive team to have non-exclusive use of the lap pool and diving well for practices during the ten week fall/winter varsity competition season. The Agreement also provides the team exclusive use of the facility during home swim meets. In the 2007-2008 season, five home swim meets were held at the Beede Center, all on Fridays at 6:30 p.m. Additionally, the Agreement permits the High School non-exclusive use of the lap pool during the school day, as a module in the High School’s Health & Fitness curriculum. This means students taking “gym” class may select swimming as an activity they would like to learn more about and participate in a High School faculty supervised use the lap pool. All School use of the facility is subject to discussion and negotiation between the High School and the Recreation Department. 4. Does the Regional High School pay for students to use of the Beede Center? No, the Intergovernmental Agreement expressly states that the Regional School District shall not be charged for the swim and dive team and physical education class use of the Beede Center. 5. Do the taxpayers of Concord and Carlisle pay to support the facility? No, the Beede Center is set up to be operated exclusively on user fees, similar to the way all other programs operated by the Recreation Department are structured. This means that those who enjoy the use of the facility are the people who pay the cost of operation; taxpayers who choose not to use the facility do not have their taxes used to underwrite the cost of operation. This is believed to be a more fair allocation of the $2 million annual cost to operate the facility. However, operating a fee-based public recreational facility places an enormous burden on the Recreation Department staff to manage the facility “like a business”. If customers believe they can get a better value for their money elsewhere, they are free to choose from among many competing fitness facilities in the area. This means that the staff must be continually dedicated to providing excellent customer service, and a clean, safe, and welcoming environment at all times. 6. Concerns of the Swim and Dive Team Parents & The Recreation Department Response Some parents and supporters of the Swim & Dive team have expressed concerns about several aspects of the Beede Center operation, including: The team would like exclusive use of the pool for practice each afternoon after school during the competitive season, roughly December 1 through the first week of February. It is neither reasonable nor practical to close off the lap pool to all 5,500 members during the High School’s 10-week swim season. Before the Beede Center was constructed, it was planned that the Swim Team and members of the Beede Center would share the facility during team practices. In the Intergovernmental Agreement, signed two years before the Beede Center opened, the Swim Team would be allowed use of the natatorium to host swim meets, scheduling to be negotiated by the Recreation Department and Concord Carlisle Athletic Director. The team’s home meets are all scheduled on Friday nights at 6:30 p.m. Other teams CCHS competes with have swim/dive meets in the afternoon. Home meets were scheduled on Friday nights to provide the swim team with use of the entire pool facility. The natatorium is closed to members for the meets at 6:30 p.m. Friday night is the only night that the Beede Center has no other programming, such as swim lessons, water fitness classes and coached workout, therefore member usage is at its lowest. In 2007-08, the swim team’s home meets were all held on Friday nights. In May of 2008, the Athletic Director
1/6/2012 4:10 PM
Concord, MA - Beede Center and CCHS Swim & Dive Team FAQ's
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http://www.concordma.gov/pages/ConcordMA_Recreation/faq?textPage=1
proposed a few mid-week afternoon meets be scheduled; but the dates requested were difficult for the Beede Center to accommodate because other programs had already been scheduled. In 2009, the Beede Center administration has agreed to reserve 3 dates for mid-week afternoon meets, as well as 3 Friday night meets, so that 6 home meets will be held at the Beede Center. The Athletic Director will be responsible to coordinate with the teams from other towns on those dates. The Recreation Department is too inflexible in its scheduling that several “home” meets that should be held at the Beede Center have been scheduled for the Atkinson Pool in Sudbury. It is embarrassing for parents from ConcordCarlisle to have try to explain why our “home” meets are in Sudbury. The Concord Carlisle Athletic Director made the changes to the swim team’s schedule for those meets that were scheduled at the Atkinson Pool. The Beede Center did schedule the meets. One of which was to be held on a day when the Center was to be closed. The Beede Center had made the accommodation to keep the Center open and staffed at no expense to the team. The High School Athletic Director changed the meets to accommodate the coaches in the league. The Recreation Department doesn’t make the facility available for “captain’s practices” two weeks before the season starts. Such un-coached pre-season practices are commonplace in other sports like soccer and football and are common for swimmers in other towns. MIAA rules discourage such pre-season preparation and prohibit High School officials from having anything to do with captain’s practices. The captains of soccer, football and other teams must make their own arrangements to reserve playing fields for non-school-sponsored, preseason training. With the Beede Center, however, only school officials may reserve use of the pool for the swim team. The Intergovernmental Agreement governing use of the Beede Center by the swim team has no provision for pre-season, unofficial use. Also, Beede Center rules prohibit “group use” of the facility. This is intended to ensure that all members have equal access to the facility, and that no aspect of the facility is “monopolized” by a certain group of users. Beede Center staff responded creatively to this situation by offering a pre-season training clinic coached by Michael Caruso, a college level coach. Most participants responded by indicating that the program was excellent. It helped to strengthen their skills and conditioning getting them prepared for the competitive season. The Swim Team would like to have a sixth day of practice on Saturdays. In 2007-2008, this was arranged at the Beede Center at 5:30 a.m. In 2007-08, the Beede Center staff accommodated this request by using a staff member who volunteered to open the Center up for Saturday swim practices at 5:30 a.m. This worked reasonably well, because the practices were ending at about the time the Center opened to members at 7:00 a.m. However, parents complained about the early start time. Saturday mornings in the winter months is one of the most popular times that members enjoy for personal fitness. Many members indicated that closing the Center substantially or completely to members in order to accommodate a swim team practice on Saturdays would take away their ability to swim laps at the time they have been working out the since the building opened. Beede Center staff tried in December of 2008 to allow a one-hour swim team practice from 7:15 a.m. to 8:15 a.m. on Saturdays, using 4 of the pools 8 lanes, and reserving 4 lanes for members. However, the swim team did not adhere to the agreement and vacate the pool in accordance with this schedule, the members complained about the inconvenience. This puts the staff in a no-win situation. In a good faith effort, the Beede Center has scheduled some Saturday practices for the team. The Center will let the team into the building 15 minutes prior to its normal opening so that they may swim from 7:00-8:15 am. There are a lot of rules that the Recreation Department applies to the Swim Team which don’t seem to apply to other teams, such as a requirement that swimmers gather in the HS cafeteria before arriving at the Beede Center for practice; that swimmers go immediately downstairs to change and not linger in the lobby; that swimmers must take a shower before entering any of the pools. Students have to shower before entering the pool. Massachusetts State Health Regulations require that operators of public pools ensure that all users shower before entering the pool. It is the responsibility of the coaching staff to ensure that team members follow the basic rules of the facility as well as State laws. Health and Safety rules are not an area where the Recreation staff can be flexible. This topic should not be an issue and should to be addressed immediately by the coaching staff.
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Concord, MA - Beede Center and CCHS Swim & Dive Team FAQ's
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http://www.concordma.gov/pages/ConcordMA_Recreation/faq?textPage=1
Swim Team members are asked to gather in the High School cafeteria when school ends at 2:05 pm, until swim practice begins at 2:30. There are about 57 participants in the Swim and Dive Team program. The lobby of the Beede Center can only accommodate 10 or 15 people. Having 30 or 40 students, with their oversized backpacks and gym bags, crowded into a seating area that only accommodates 15 or 20 people, creates a problem for members using the facility. The Recreation Department is operating the Beede Center as a professional fitness center, and the boisterousness and enthusiasm of the students at the end of the school day conflicts with the needs of other members. This is not a sign of hostility the Recreation Department feels toward young people, as has been asserted, but rather an effort to try to balance the needs of all users of the Center. The Recreation Department seems hostile to the members of the Swim & Dive Teams; although more than half of the team members are also Beede Center members. The students using the pool for practice are using it in their capacity as part of the High School swim team. The Beede Center must treat all swim team members equally during periods when the school is using the facility. The staff has respectfully requested that students gather in the High School Cafeteria, and arrive at the Beede Center together with a team captain or coach, and proceed immediately to the downstairs changing area. Again, this is not a sign of disrespect, but a request for cooperation. The Athletic Director Barry Haley has indicated this is a reasonable accommodation that has worked fairly well. The Swim & Dive Team has some fantastic athletes and the competitions are fun and exciting. Yet the Recreation Department doesn’t seem to support the teams desire to hold meets at convenient time, to hang banners in the Center and do other things to build community support and excitement for the Team. The Team requested permission to hang a removable banner on the wall next to the pool, for the duration of the swim season. That has been agreed to. The Recreation staff support the team and have even created an “Otters” team for young swimmers. The Otter’s is a feeder program that will ensure strong future high school swim teams. The staff is responsible to make sure that the facility creates an ambience that all members feel comfortable with. The Swim Team has often been able to include students of all abilities and has tried to use a “no cut” policy to allow anyone to join the team who wanted to participate. By not giving the Swim Team exclusive use of the Beede Center for all practices, the Team has had to begin denying the less competitive students the ability to participate. Beede Center staff regret that it will not be possible to provide the swim team exclusive use of the facility for more than the home meets agreed to in the Intergovernmental Agreement reached before the Beede Center was constructed. No other sports team, other than the cross-country team is able to maintain a no-cut policy. Such a policy of inclusion is ideal, but also is unworkable if it means that the 5,500 paying members of the Beede Center must be excluded during times of the year when indoor fitness work-outs are most in demand. It is a worthy objective; but one which almost all other sports also find impossible to achieve. The Beede Center was built with public funds, and worrying about the concerns of members is inappropriate. The Beede Center was not built with public funds. It was built with approximately $10 million in privately donated funds. The donors of the building were not able to purchase all of the exercise equipment and other equipment for the facility, so some public money was used to purchase this equipment. But the building was donated to the Town. The Recreation Department wishes the Center could be open to all residents at no cost. Unfortunately, it costs in excess of $2 million per year to operate the facility and keep it clean and safe. One of the objectives in building the Beede Center was to make it self-supporting, so that it wouldn’t compete for tax dollars with our schools, public safety and other important programs. The fees charged for memberships are lower than most private clubs; and the school department does not pay for its use of the facility. This is why it is critical to balance the needs of all users, to ensure that the Beede Center remains financially viable, for the members and for the Swim Team, for many years to come.
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