Upcoming Community Meeting announcement is here, Followed below by the Petition text:

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Next Steps and Community Discussion:
To address these concerns and ensure our voices are heard, we are organizing a virtual community meeting to discuss this issue further and consider our options for advocacy. We invite all interested parties, including petition signers, to join this important discussion.

Meeting Details:
Date and Time: Monday Sept 30, 7:30PM
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82207436624?pwd=aDO7OKR6i7CXP7Nyl2g3UCDav1RU4e.1

Meeting ID: 822 0743 6624
Passcode: 555144
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We encourage everyone who cares about this issue to join us. This will be a valuable opportunity to share information (including some information we have gathered), express concerns, and plan our next steps together as a community.

Thank you for your attention to this matter! We hope for a swift resolution that reflects the needs and desires of our community.

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To SFRPD Director Phil Ginsburg and Mayor London Breed,

We are families who recently learned that SFRPD is closing Garfield pool on Fridays and Saturdays, opening it on Sundays and Mondays, but at the same time *not* replacing any of the swimming classes that normally are scheduled on Fridays and Saturdays. That's tot swim, multiple youth levels, adult swim, and means they lose in all about 1/3 of all the classes they can offer. This is for the fall 2024 season which starts soon (class registration starts next Saturday, 8/17), after many families have surely already been putting fall Saturday youth swim classes on their wish lists. We heard that SFRPD is only doing this to Garfield pool and maybe one other pool. There was no discussion with the community prior to SFRPD making this sudden decision.

We urge you to immediately reverse the decision to change the pool's schedule and cancel the swim classes in our community. We want those swim classes back.

Changing up the schedule at the last minute and at the expense of swim classes, especially youth classes that are only available on Saturdays, when there's already way more demand than availability, is not right. It's also completely unfair to families in the Mission District, including low income families, families without easy access to other pools, and the many many families that love the swim instructors/coaches and the high quality swim instruction at Garfield.

It is hard enough to get into SFRPD swim classes as it is, especially for the classes which take place on Saturdays. Your current plan will make it much harder for families in our part of the City to get their children access to affordable, quality classes to learn water safety and swimming. Since that is against SFRPD's mission please quickly make the pool open on Fridays and Saturdays and reinstate their scheduled classes.