Incident at Summerbrooke

Yesterday I dropped my son off at the Summerbrooke Pool for a few hours and arranged to pick him up at 5:00. I guess a child had an accident in the pool and they had to close. My son does not have a cell phone and whenever I drop him off at the Southern Walk Pool and they close for thunder, he calls me on the phone in the lifeguard office. When my son went into the lifeguard office, he found out that they only have a pay-phone and had no money. He had no way of calling me and when I picked him up at 5 he was crying and told me he waited for almost an hour . Can we please have a real telephone installed in the Summerbrooke Pool Office to prevent incidents like this from happening again!

 

Heh...that worked in Caddyshack also.

 

While I think is sad that your son was upset, and I know mine would have been too if he had been there by himself for a while, I think the easier solution to the problem is to make sure he has money to call home if he needs you to come pick him up. You never know when someone might get sick in the pool, or he feels sick himself and wants to come home early.

I am surprised though, that a lifeguard didn't let him use one of their cell phones to call you.


Just out of curiosity, is there an age restriction for a child being by themselves at the pool?

 

If your child is old enough, buy them one of those cell phones that has a limited number of pre-programmable choices. If I remember correctly, they are fairly inexpensive and you can program up to 4 numbers.

Check with your current provider on options (if you have cellular service that is).

 

In a somewhat related incedent based on the title...

There is a pool in Merrifield that was constantly being closed due to defecation. Management became somewhat suspicious at the frequency it was occuring and installed some video cameras.
They caught one of the lifeguards DELIBERATELY putting his own fecal matter into the pool so that it would be shutdown and he could take the rest of the day off with pay.

 

How long do you think it would be before someone used such a phone to call long distance or somone tried to run up a phone bill for the HOA? This should be a parent responsibility (i.e., give the kid a quarter or a cell phone) and not the pool or HOA responsibility? Relying on the HOA seems absurd to me.

 

The other two pools have regular phones, it is only the Summerbrooke pool that has a pay phone. It would be nice to upgrade the phone. I heard next year they may be installing computers and the lifeguards would scan the cards...could someone please verify this?

 

I think it should be the HOA's responsibility to provide a phone in the event that the pool is shut down for "emergency" reasons. The phone company can set them up so that only local calls will connect. We are already too dependant on cell phones... we don't need to make parents give them to children any sooner than they feel is appropriate.

 

IMHO, responsibility should start at home. It seems to be in vogue to make the HOA responsible for everything that could and does go wrong. Could a usuable phone be installed, sure. But if a parent can leave their child alone at the pool, then that child should be responsible enough to carry a cell-phone.

As far as being too dependant on cell phones, I would argue that point in another thread. Over-used sure....

 

Here is a novel thought, why don't your stay with you child at the pool. The Pool lifegards are not sitters to keep any eye on kids, especially at summerbrook pool. If your child is so young that he start to cry, then maybe he is too young to be left unattended. Just a thought.

 

Mr. Linux - I DID say that a usable phone could be installed. Maybe I should have said "should".

As for cellphones, they are PERFECT for emergencies as most people now carry them and quite a few accidents happen no where near a phone.

 

What's the problem with letting a kid call home on a FREE local land line? We did that BEFORE cell phones. Cell phones don't always work, you may be caught with you pants down one day if you rely toomuch on fragile technology.

 

Yowza... that brings up a scary thought. What if 911 needed to be called? Lifeguards would have to rely on someone with a cell phone who was at the pool. That thought alone makes me think a working phone should be available. As for the original situation that occurred with the thread starter, I'll reserve comment.

 

That was my initial thought sharse, but unless I am mistaken all payphones allow you to make 9-1-1 calls for free.

So that really isn't a concern for the Summerbrooke Pool, which has a pay phone.

Nevertheless, I still think it is a good idea to have a local-call-only phone at the pool for situations like those discussed above.

 

Reading this thread has me curious...does anyone know whether in fact there are any laws or ordinances that it is required to have a landline phone at a public pool in case of emergency/safety/security?

 

http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cach...ming+pool+ordinances&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=5

See page 19 regarding paragraph on safety -- it clearly states:
A telephone with a selected list of telephone numbers for: A. The nearest ambulance service; B. The nearest hospitals having emergency rooms; and C. The nearest police department, fire department and rescue squads.

so it seems like this thread is now moot as it is the loudoun county law that a public pool must be equipped with a telephone.