The Kettleman City School pool is open to the public this summer for the first time in several years. Local residents can swim for $1.

Waste Management's Kettleman Hills facility, which handles municipal solid and hazardous waste, donated $5,000 on June 20 to Reef-Sunset Unified School District. The school had wanted to open the pool but did not have lifeguards for it, said Bob Henry, senior district manager for the waste facility.

Henry believed opening the pool to the public was "crucial to the well being of the community."

The donation helped fund the training, certification and employment of 10 local high school students so that they could be lifeguards for the summer.

The school district's business manager, Michelle Cutillo, said the district was grateful to Waste Management for the donation because it provided summer employment for some local students and had helped "the community stay cool."

The pool opened to the public on June 1 and will close up for the summer on Aug. 30, said Manuela Hernandez, a clerk at the school. The pool hours will be revised and likely reduced on Aug. 14, due to the start of the new school year, Henry said.

The pool is located at the school on General Petroleum Street in Kettleman City. It's open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday.

The reporter can be reached at 582-0471, ext. 3047.

(Aug. 7, 2007)