Picket School Indoor Pool

Pickett School Indoor Pool is at 5700 Wayne Ave., Philadelphia, PA, 19144
Phone: (215) 683-3663
PIcket Pool Facebook (last updated 2020)

CLOSED FOR SEVERAL YEARS
Rectangle pool with lap lines
Ladders for pool entry/ exit
Water depth 3-5 feet
On campus of Mastery Charter School Pickett Campus, but not leased by Charter School.
Local community organizing to save indoor public pools

Has this pool ever been open to the public? In past years, I’ve tried two or three times, and the department of recreation website doesn’t indicate that it’s “closed for the season “and the parking lot is full… So I tried my luck going in today… the same result as the other three times I’ve attempted it since moving into this neighborhood in 1995
The stairs smell strong of bleach like the pool vibe is still there and signage still indicates “pool entrance “ with post – picket “mastery” “logo identification, so what is the story…? Actually a slightly better result because I actually laid eyes on the pool this time so I don’t remember what happened when I first moved to Germantown that I never even found the pool door and was just told on the phone a couple times the pool was closed for the season, and intercepted out on Wayne Avenue when I asked passersby where the pool was. |
Whenever the topic of this pool has been brought up to neighbors at Pleasant playground, it is met with eye rolls as there seems to be a shared belief at the pool was only ever public for the students of that school during the school year and not for actual neighbors.

  • Pool entrnce sign points to loading dock
    Pool entrnce sign points to loading dock
  • Steps descending to pool entrance.
    Steps descending to pool entrance.
  • Unoccupied building at Pickett School Campus
    Unoccupied building at Pickett School Campus
  • Empty pool with lap lines through window
    Empty pool with lap lines through window
  • Scenic entry vestibule to PIckett Pool
    Scenic entry vestibule to PIckett Pool
  • City website does not indicate that the pool is closed for the season but only that it is closed to the public. LIke every other pool on the site today.
    City website does not indicate that the pool is closed for the season but only that it is closed to the public. LIke every other pool on the site today.

POSTSCRIPT:
After sharing this experience on several community groups on Facebook the comments painted conflicting images of news coming from teachers at the school who were asked to make sure the pool area was cleared for repairs and opening, to school administrators of the charter school who washed their hands of that part of the campus that is not part of their leased property and neighbors who had no idea the pool had ever closed to the public. It is through these conversations that some consciousness was raised about the Friends of Philly Aquatics group and their efforts to reopen multiple indoor pools (mostly located in school buildings) and this lead to research on their recent efforts to get the state of indoor pools on the agenda of the City Council and budget.