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An Elgin County high school’s swim team will be motoring ahead after an insurance dispute between the province and the region’s largest school board threatened to cancel the season.
The swim team at East Elgin secondary school in Aylmer will be back in the water in the coming weeks after the Thames Valley District school board and the Ministry of the Solicitor General reached an agreement over the use of the Ontario Police College’s indoor pool, the team’s long-time training spot.
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“We are super thankful for all the support we’ve received,” said Cam Charlton, the parent of one East Elgin swimmer. “There’s a race to finalize the paperwork and bookings, but we are hopeful the week of the Nov. 19 the team will be back in the water and doing what they love.”
The Ministry of the Solicitor General on Friday confirmed the issue has been resolved and the students will be able to continue to use the pool at the Ontario Police College, located in Aylmer.
The team’s season was supposed to have begun early last week, giving them time to practice before the first meet in December, Charlton said. The board’s athletics organization set a Nov. 15 deadline for the dispute to be settled, or else the East Elgin team would have to forfeit the season.
The insurance issue came up months ago, but with little movement on the deal and a deadline looming, swim team parents started a public push for a settlement, Charlton said.
“We want to thank education director Bill Tucker for his leadership and support, it was greatly appreciated,” Charlton said, adding that, while the deal is excellent news, it was frustrating that it came at the last minute.
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Parents at East Elgin also made an appeal to their local Progressive Conservative MPP, Rob Flack, who brought it to Solicitor General Michael Kerzner.
“I walked into the House the next morning and saw Minister Kerzner. We sit near each other,” Flack said Sunday, adding the police college pool had been put on his radar before over pandemic-related reopening delays.
“We got our staff together and the thing was solved in less than five minutes.”
Bruce Smith, a Thames Valley trustee in Elgin County, said he had spoken to the board’s lawyer after the East Elgin parents went public and was confident a deal would be reached in time to save the season.
“He’d been working on it for a couple months. He explained what the issue was, it really wasn’t a giant issue, but people got worried,” Smith said, adding a lot of people rallied around to get an agreement.
“It’s so good to see.”
The East Elgin swim team has approximately 23 swimmers and has been training at the Ontario Police College for decades.
The Ontario Police College’s indoor pool is also used by Aylmer Optimist Arrows swim team and the YWCA St. Thomas-Elgin.
jbieman@postmedia.com
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