Parks & Rec closes pools as staff return to school

SIOUX FALLS S.D. (KELO) --  With the summer season winding down, Sioux Falls Parks and Recreation announced when they will start closing their outdoor aquatic facilities.

Jean Pearson, Recreation Program Coordinator for Aquatics for Sioux Falls said why they decided to close the pools.

"Its a traditional weekend for us to close our pools, it has been for 5 years," Pearson told KELOLAND News. "It's usually the second full weekend in August, we need to shut down pools, mainly because most of our employees are high school students and they have to head back to school."

Pearson said at the end of the day keeping all the pools open is a matter of staffing

"You have to take a look at the numbers of staff that we have available and what pools we can operate safely," Pearson said "Based on staffing we have to decide which pools are going to close first.

Pool closures will start on August 11, after that they will slowly start to close the remaining pools up until September 1 when all of Sioux Falls outdoor pools will close.

Pearson said there are a variety of reasons they choose certain pools to close first.

"For example w...