When the Panthers won the AVCTL I swim title for the seventh consecutive time, coach Jimmy Adams and the rest of the team jumped into the pool.
At Campus High.
When the Panthers won their senior night, they celebrated with family.
At Campus High.
The swimming program seems to have everything they could wish for. However; DHS does not have its own pool.
The Panthers practice at the Derby Recreation Center, and if they want to host a meet, they do it at Campus.
“I’m beyond grateful for Campus and their willingness to let us borrow their pool to host our senior night,” senior Ayden McFarren said. “But it is undeniably embarrassing that we have the biggest swim team in the state and don’t even have our own pool to host a senior night.”
Swimmers also are not fond of practicing at the DRC.
Through the 24-25 season, the Panthers had the largest 6A team in the state with a total of 51 swimmers. While Campus, another 6A school, had 17 swimmers.
“It sucks when you have to cram 50+ boys into just a five-lane pool that’s arguably the same temperature as a bathtub,” McFarren said.
So what’s holding the school district back? Money is a huge issue.
A good starting point to look at for the cost would be the Haysville school district’s recent pool. The USD261 district had a $59 million bond issue in 2018 which included the Glenn Crum Natatorium.
Getting a precise cost for a school pool is complicated. You have to factor in inflation from the past eight years and the newly put tariffs on steel from the new presidential administration.
The Derby Recreation Commission has just recently gone through a “Phase 1 Aquatics Study with Water’s Edge Aquatics” and the range of projects and the estimated cost on options ranged from 12 million- 76 million.
“The DRC’s study highlights that ‘a pool’ can mean vastly different things, from a basic lap pool to a comprehensive aquatic center,” director of DRC facilities Darcie Parkhurst said. “The $76 million figure was for a very large, multi-use facility, not just a high school pool, emphasizing the impact of scope on cost.”
More factors are taken into account such as the type of pool wanted. It could range between a lap pool, therapy pool or recreational pool. You have to put in perspective the size and where to put locker rooms, spectator seating or offices.
“A joint project with the recreation commission would drastically change the cost and functionality,” Parkhurst said.
A process that began in February 2025, Derby Public Schools have launched a “comprehensive, multi-year study” to strategically plan for the future of the students, schools and programs.
“This process is examining enrollment trends, school capacity, programming needs, and facility conditions,” said Burke Jones, Director of Operations for Derby Public Schools. “Committees will lead discussions on key topics such as early learning opportunities, high school programming, special education and student activities/athletics—including facility needs that support those programs.”
During the process, community members are given chances to give feedback at specific intervals, and the Board of Education will receive regular updates.
In September 2026, the final plan is anticipated to be approved. The aim is to ensure that the USD260 district’s resources such as buildings, educational programs and the staff are “effectively aligned” to meet the needs of students.
“Through the work of the committee to date, further discussions about a pool are on the list of facilities to study,” Jones said.
As they progress through the work, it is said there may be opportunities for collaboration between Derby Public Schools and the DRC to explore how shared resources and facilities could best serve students and the broader community.
“Right now, we are in the early stages of planning, and no decisions have been made. However, we are committed to a thorough and thoughtful approach as we consider all options for meeting the district’s needs, and our student athlete swimmers,” Jones said. “The good news is that we will be studying many areas across the District in these coming months, which also may include a pool for the DHS swim team.”
Parents of current and previous swimmers have been using the tag #buildthemapool on social media.
“The #buildthemapool hashtag is used on social media as a collective form of bringing awareness to the fact that Derby High School does not have its own pool,” swim mom Laura McFarren said. “I believe that we will never see a cumulative team title for Derby High School until we have the support of the community and district to #buildthemapool.”
The swimming community is passionate about getting a pool for the Panthers.
“There is currently no facility available to support the talent Derby is capable of producing,” said Derby alum Megan Keil, who set two school records and competed at Missouri. “If we want to give students a fair chance at winning state titles and receiving athletic scholarships, we have to be able to provide pool space that, at minimum, enables us to conduct practices and host meets.”
Derby alum Will McCabe was very successful, earning eight school records.
“The current facility at the DRC in my opinion will not fester greatness for any aquatic competitive program besides what has been done,” Derby alum Will McCabe said. “The pool is very warm and horrible for training and should be expanded.”
At this point, only Lifetime Fitness classes use the pool. Getting kids over to the pool is a problem during the day – just like it is for the swim team’s practices.
The Wichita school district requires its students to take an aquatic class in order to graduate.
“Swimming has many benefits. Learning to swim can prevent drowning and teach water safety. Swimming is a lifetime activity and has many health benefits,” Lifetime Fitness teacher Christine Weve said. “Swimming benefits: improves cardio and strengthens muscles. Easy on joints.”
Adams also noted that pools are used for many different purposes, including recovery or rehab.
“There’s a million ways to benefit, but not just for the swim team,” Adams said. “People are pretty closed-minded when they think of a swimming pool. They think ‘who cares, it’s just for the swim team,’ but it’s actually for a ton of people at the school.”
Derby can profit from a pool in a magnitude of areas such as admissions from home meets or rental from nearby club teams.
“It’s been incredibly difficult over the past couple of years to excel and grow in swim without our own pool,” Ayden McFarren said. “The coaches are easily some of the best in the state and care more about our success than maybe any other team, but when limited by not owning our own pool, it’s been really hard.”