Ready to make a splash? Corona del Mar High pool expected to be back online Tuesday

“WE DID IT!” reads part of an email that Corona del Mar High Principal Jake Haley sent out to families on Thursday.

The latest news on the Sea Kings’ pool is certainly cause for celebration.

It is now expected to be back online Tuesday, far sooner than the 20- to 30-week timetable that was originally expected last month.

Haley said in the email that the pool pump was redirected to an engineering firm that was able to rebuild it over spring break. On Thursday, a contractor met with the Newport-Mesa Unified School District maintenance team to install the rebuilt pump.

The pump is actively moving water, and after some fine-tuning, monitoring and chlorine checks, the pool is expected to reopen on Tuesday afternoon, Haley said.

CdM swimming and boys’ water polo coach Kareem Captan said he was “shocked” to hear the good news.

“Obviously there’s a lot of people there that would like to see the pool open,” he said. “Just to see the community come together was pretty awesome. It wouldn’t have been possible without the collaboration of all parties ... the district really was open-minded and really stepped up to the plate, working with our administration and our community to fix the problem. I’ve been at CdM a pretty long time and seen a lot of pool problems, but I’ve never seen a something come together and a problem get fixed like this before as quickly and efficiently.”

Captan said the professionalism of first-year CdM athletic director Brian Walsh, and the ability to get pool time at other pools, also made a difference.

“He just never stopped working for us to get pool time available,” Captan said. “Even if it was going to take six months, he was prepared to make sure we were in a good spot.”

CdM aquatic parents Tim Britt, Joe Stefano, Darin Anderson and Sam Kamel were leaders in a parent group that met with district administration in hopes of quickly resolving the issue.

Haley also thanked district Director of Maintenance & Operations Lance Bidnik among others.

“[This is] a testimony to community, kids and collaboration,” Haley said in the email.

Newport-Mesa Unified School District Board of Trustees member Lisa Pearson agreed.

“Our parents and community are amazing,” Pearson said. “Having a district, a principal and superintendent willing to meet with parents and work with them for a faster solution benefits our students ... We’re in good hands.”

Captan said the swim team has been training at UC Irvine recently. If the CdM pool reopens on Tuesday, it would be a day before Surf League swimming preliminaries at Golden West College.

Vika Boyko’s son, Timur Tsotsiashvili, is a junior water polo player at CdM, and she also has another son playing 12-and-under water polo.

“Parents are relieved,” Boyko said. “It’s an understatement to say that we’re just relieved and really happy.”