The Keller Independent School District (ISD) Natatorium has closed indefinitely for mechanical repairs, and the facility’s future is expected to be addressed at a Board Meeting scheduled for Thursday night.
A Keller spokesperson confirmed to SwimSwam that the pool is closed due to a maintenance issue and they currently don’t have a timetable for its reopening.
The pool hosts some 600-plus swimmers from the Lakeside Aquatic Club in addition to Keller High School, which swept the UIL 6A State Championships as recently as 2025, along with running local swim lessons.
Multiple Keller community Facebook groups have been flooded with comments about the matter over the last few days, with allegations that Keller ignored facility upgrades and required maintenance in the lead-up to this closure.
According to an anonymous post on the Keller ISD Community United Facebook page, an email was sent out informing community members of the closure.
“We received official written notification from Keller ISD that the Keller ISD Natatorium will be CLOSED indefinitely due to mechanical issues. We do not know how long this closure will be happening. We understand your frustration with the short notice closure. If you choose to contact the KISD Board or Superintendent, please do so respectfully. Professional communication is more effective and helps LAC maintain positive relationships with the district as we work together on future planning.”
In the Keller Texas Neighborly Group on Facebook, a post, which has more than 300 comments, reads:
“A failure on the part of Keller ISD, who were aware of the constant air quality and poor maintenance issues. They wasted money on the wrong parts or ignored needed repairs and now the bill is in the millions. Hundreds of athletes have been displaced, many of whom start college recruiting next month and have championship swim meets over the summer. The Keller council was also aware of the situation, and rather than look for ways to help support Keller swimmers, they added sprinklers and planted flowers between the lanes of Keller Parkway. This pool and the parents have been begging for help, and now hundreds of families are left in limbo. KISD Natatorium has accommodated state champions and runners-up for years. Several athletes swam at the Olympic Trials and have gone on to swim in college. This is a huge disappointment for our local swimmers and a direct result of KISD’s lack of action and planning.”
There is an action item on the agenda for tonight’s Board Meeting to consider a $2.1 million budget amendment to address “necessary mechanical replacements.”
Heather Washington, the Keller ISD Board of Trustees Vice President, said in the comments of one of the Facebook posts that the District has already spent “hundreds of thousands of dollars” trying to address facility issues and that “current projections show that more than $9 million would be needed to bring the facility up to operational standards.”
Keller Mayor Armin Mizani was also engaging with community members in the Facebook group, saying they had not heard directly from the KISD and would reserve comment until the matter was addressed. He added: “If the safety concern is accurate, KISD taking precautions is the right step until the wellbeing of swimmers and families can be ensured. While KISD is a separate entity, the City of Keller remains ready to assist KISD as best we can as we have also done on other matters.”
Community members wishing to speak at the Board Meeting and voice their support for the facility can sign up here. The meeting is scheduled for Thursday, May 14, 2026, at 5 pm at The Education Center, located at 350 Keller Parkway, Keller.
I guess the 2 questions are: who needs to be fired? Superintendent maybe? What harm has been done to my kids (now adults). Answers please.
NTN pool is 10 minutes from the Keller pool and the northwest pool is 20 minutes away. Many options for LAC swimmers.
Keller needs to get their act together. There are so many athletes who are now displaced and have to squeeze in wherever they can. These athletes have high goals and they now risk not being able to achieve those goals due to the lack of care and consideration on Keller’s end. The neglect for one of Keller’s largest community centers is crazy. I hope that Keller makes the correct decision and fixes the pool.
Two things are true here.
One, the school districts in Texas are woefully underfunded and it is forcing all districts to make difficult decisions across all areas of the district. Teachers aren’t getting raises, campuses are closing. It’s a statewide issue.
Two, this specific situation is also the result of gross mismanagement and failure of oversight by the district. Many neighboring districts have better, newer facilities that don’t lose money. With the success and population of swimmers in the area, Keller ISD has no one but themselves to blame for their own negligence. The repair bill is so large because they did nothing but kick the can down the road on the natatorium for years. At the same time,… Read more »
On the school funding issue, the legislature patted themselves on the back last year about record funding while not admitting that the record allocation was needed to offset lower property taxes, so school funding effectively stayed flat. Costs go up, but I think we’re effectively funding at 2018, 2019 levels. The private school vouchers fund kids at a higher level than public schools do, without the same requirements.
One of the questions I have is where is the money going from pool rentals. One of the reasons to rent out the pool to teams and for meets is to bring in funds for maintenance.
It goes to the typical costs of running a large aquatics facility and is operating at a loss. There are expenses as well as income, you realize?
Can they also close the Justin natatorium?
Yes the NTN pool is 10 minutes away and the Justin pool 20 minutes away. The club swimmers have options.
Keller ISD needs to figure it out and get a dynamic person who can run their nat as a district employee and also coach their swim teams AND their water polo team. Someone with some sway so LAC doesn’t defacto call the shots. And it shouldn’t be a dive coach (which is oddly the norm in Texas for people running nats).
Both in swimming and in water polo they have fantastic athletes but lack the hs coaching. We all know about the old swim coach but did you know Keller isd had her teaching elementary? Is that appropriate to make relationships with the swimmers in the hallway? Texas rules are you have to work for the district, but it should… Read more »
LAC loves a good diva moment
What do you mean by that? LAC just wants what is best for their swimmers and the pool breaking down is a huge deal. There are so many swimmers who have major goals and now, with the pool closing due to lack of care and consideration for a major part of the Keller community, they will have to squeeze in wherever they can and risk not achieving their goals. I mean, surely you had goals growing up, right? How did you feel when you were unable to achieve that goal? The amount of work these athletes put in year round to only shave half a second off of their times is insane. Keller better get it together because there are… Read more »
The ntn pool is 10 minutes away and the Justin pool is 20 minutes away. They have options in the short term. Taxes are high in Keller.
I haven’t been able to fact check it, but someone told me this pool served roughly 650 swimmers.
I don’t know if there’s room for 650 swimmers.
These areas have crazy money, so I don’t know why the clubs aren’t building their own pools.
650 swimmers is a stretch for the Justin pool. The pool serves a branch of LAC and the high school. The NTN pool is closer.
Have you seen the condition of the NTN pool? They have a very small group. Definitely not enough room to hold 650+ kids. Also, what about the KISD HS swimmers? I don’t think that is a good look for national level swimmers to be training at a different ISD’s pool. The Justin pool already serves as a site for LAC to practice at. There are many sites that LAC practices at and most of them are under repair. Since they are under repair, those athletes have to find somewhere to practice. Justin and Keller both have been serving these other sites and now with Keller being shut down, they have to find more places to practice. There is no way… Read more »
The Keller pool went done before for a summer. It wasn’t a big deal. All the LAC keller team went to the Justin pool. It’s the summer time too, just had to move times around.
You don’t really want a coach to run your facility. You want an operations person. Coaches are programming. Too many school facilities hire coaches while one foot in retirement who take the gig for an easier lifestyle and maybe a pay bump. You need someone who really understands all the back end stuff to run a facility. It’s so much more than turning on the lights and putting a little chlorine in the pool.
100%
Yeah, I took over a college program that ran under a “the swim coach will take care of it” mantra.
I found a pool that was about 30 years behind on maintenance issues and couldn’t maintain a consistent air or water temperature. The previous coach also had a hoarding problem, as all of the supply closets and equipment bins were full of decrepit equipment and old, defective, timing systems.
When I confronted the AD (it was a part time gig – not like I had anything to lose) about the state of the pool compared to other teams on campus, he admitted that he rarely went in there because he, “[couldn’t] even find a place to put my coat down”.
Btw, I’m not saying a coach can’t become an operations person. I am saying they usually don’t try in those situations. Depending on your staffing and financial situation, running a facility is a lot more complicated than people realize.
Seems like Keller Swimming is on a warpath of drama the last several years. Hope they can permanently right the ship, at some point…
Aging pools, ignored maintenance, this is a common issue around the country. What about the hvac mentioned? Our sport in this country is dependent on scholastic facilities. In my lsc the recent sc senior state meet was held in a pool with 85F water temp. I know because I measured it each session.
Was that indoor water temp?
Yes indoor and air temp higher