Sandusky Central Catholic to use Perkins' pool

SANDUSKY — St. Mary Central Catholic High School swimmers won't be using Sandusky Schools' pool this year. Sandusky Central Catholic School will instead partner with Perkins Schools for the upcoming swimming season, SCCS president Geoff Palmer told the Register. The decision was finalized within the past week."We're still trying to figure out how many meets and practices we'll need," Palmer said. "(The financial agreement with Perkins Schools) is significantly less than half of what Sandusky Schools was charging for their pool. We appreciate Perkins for making it affordable — they've been gracious for our kids to make it work."Officials from SCCS and Sandusky Schools met to discuss facilities usage for the upcoming swimming season a few weeks ago. Palmer said Sandusky Schools initially offered about $17,000 for pool usage, but reduced the fee to about $15,000."It's more than double what we paid for all three sports (football, swimming and track) in the past," Palmer said.It's unclear whether SCCS will continue to use Perkins Schools' athletic facilities."We appreciate the openness they've shown and keeping kids at the center of this," Palmer said. "We're trying to figure out what makes sense, but we hope to have a long range solution in the near future. Nothing is off the table from our end."Perkins Schools superintendent Todd Boggs said SCCS and Vacationland swim club will be able to use Perkins High School's pool and schedules will be worked out so swimmers from both places can use the facility. Perkins High School athletic director Matt Smith was involved in negotiations.He wasn't sure how much SCCS would pay. "We're excited for the kids to have the opportunity to be able to use our pool," Boggs said. "It's a fair compromise and there are no kids who will be displaced. We have an opportunity to help kids and it's worked out well."Sandusky Schools chief of staff and transformation officer Stephen Sturgill acknowledged SCCS didn't contract with them for swimming this year."They just found a better deal," Sturgill said. "We'll come back and talk about track and field."For decades, Sandusky Central Catholic has used Sandusky Schools' athletic facilities for football, swimming and track and field. This school year, however, the relationship between the two schools became seemingly fractured when Sandusky Schools adopted a new facilities fee schedule and wanted to charge SCCS more to use the football stadium than in past years. The two school districts, however, recently agreed Sandusky Central Catholic School will pay $1,500 each for four football games at Strobel Field, totaling $6,000.Reach reporter Caitlin Nearhood at nearhood@sanduskyregister.com, follow her on Twitter @CaitlinNearhood and on Facebook.com/CaitliNearhoodSandusky Central Catholic School has agreed to use Perkins Schools' pool for its upcoming swimming season. It's unknown if the Catholic school will continue to use Perkins Schools' athletic facilities in the future. St. Mary Central Catholic state-bound swimmers Evan Gyurke, left and Jimmy Kaatz are pictured in this 2016 photo.