Kenwood Cove PA Policy Reviewed

Sizzling temperatures this week will have families scrambling for Kenwood Cove to cool off and have fun.

Staff at Salina’s aquatic park recently reviewed their policy for saving the intercom system for emergencies only and not allowing parents to simply use the PA to communicate with their children.

The issue was the subject of a cover story from the Salina Journal on Tuesday after Kenwood Cove staff reportedly refused a mother’s request to use the speaker system to page her 10-year-old daughter that she had lost contact with at the pool during the Memorial Day weekend.

City Manager Jason Gage took a moment to respond to the story during the KSAL Morning News on Tuesday.

“If we always use a PA system to call for children we would have drop off parents come by, we’d have parents there say, ‘Hey go play somewhere I don’t want to watch you now, don’t need to. I’ll just call you when we’re ready to leave.’ That’s about all we would be doing,” Gage said.

“There’s really an expectation that the Life Guards are there to save lives, not to watch your kids behave.”

Gage said he too has lost contact with his own children and could relate to the request, “There’s a fine line between a real emergency and ‘Well I’m a little bit frazzled because I can’t find my 10-year-old.'”

Gage reiterated that they reserve the PA system for emergencies, but have a policy in place for a staff member to accompany the parent or guardian on the search until the child is found.

“If we didn’t, what we should have done and what our policy is when someone is looking for their child we’ll send someone with her and help look for the child. That’s the best thing we can really do.”