Longtime North Penn swim coach Rick Carroll holds a shard of tile from a wall at the soon-to-be-renovated North Penn High School’s Rick Carroll Natatorium on Monday, May 19, 2025. Photo by Dan Sokil | The Reporter.
Pool will be renovated through December as six-year school project begins
In a facility that bears his name, longtime North Penn swim coach Rick Carroll helped end one era and kick off another on Monday afternoon.
The longtime legend was the first of dozens of dignitaries who took a drill or a hammer to the natatorium’s walls, in a “tile breaking” ceremony to mark the start of long-awaited renovations to the high school.
“It brings back a lot of memories, back to 1971. I wasn’t sure we’d ever have a second pool, let alone a remodeling of the second one. I’m just very happy that it’s underway,” Carroll said.
Over the past several years, school board members and staff have held lengthy talks about renovations to the high school, with the latest plans splitting the project into several phases. The first would tackle the school’s K-pod and natatorium, and move a propane tank and fueling station currently at the rear of the school closer to the Valley Forge Road entrance, while the second phase would build a new addition between the current A-pod and H-pod at the current rear of the school, then move students into that addition as the remaining pods are renovated over several years.
That work formally kicked off on Monday afternoon, with dozens of local swimmers, elected officials, and consultants on hand for a tile-breaking ceremony marking the official start of work. A 2018 inductee into the high school’s “Knights of Honor” hall of fame, Carroll coached the school’s swim team from 1971 to ’98, then saw a renovated natatorium named after him in 2005 — and returned to take the first swing of a hammer at the tile wall.
“The Rick Carroll natatorium, where so many have cheered, competed, and grown — even myself as an opposing coach, where I often lost — is a fitting place to begin. It’s a place of energy, spirit, and perseverance, and those are exactly the values that will carry us through this project,” said district Superintendent Todd Bauer.
Milestone in school history
Will Carroll be back to swim in the pool? “I hope so,” he said, while holding a shard of a tile he knocked off the wall.
In a set of speeches that kicked off the ceremony, Bauer called it a “significant milestone in the history of North Penn High School, and in a larger sense the North Penn School District.”
“At about this time in 2015, I was being interviewed to be the high school principal here. And I was told, when I was offered the position, that the day I started we were going to begin renovating this building. That was 10 years ago — and here we are,” Bauer said.
The pool and K-pod upgrades will be the first of four phases, which will later include a new classroom addition with an entrance at the rear of the school, a new transportation building north of the current one, then renovations to the current auditorium and gyms, and all-new furniture, fixtures and utilities throughout.
“Together, we are not just renovating a school, but we’re renewing a promise to our community: a promise that North Penn will continue to be a place where students can thrive, grow, and prepare to lead us tomorrow,” Bauer said.
Current High School Principal Kyle Hassler said the symbolic breaking of tile was “not just starting a renovation project, we are honoring a legacy more than 50 years in the making.”
“North Penn stood as the cornerstone of the community at this location since 1971, and before that, in Lansdale at what is now Penndale Middle School since 1955. Generations of students have walked North Penn’s halls, competed in our gymnasiums, swam in this very pool, performed on our stages, and grown into leaders who have gone on to make their mark in the world,” Hassler said.
Current swim team captain Maddie Faikish, a two-time PIAA gold medalist and state water polo champion, said she grew up in and around the pool, and can’t wait to see the finished version.
“For as long as I can remember, the North Penn pool has been more than just a place to swim. It has been my second home. My dad swam here, as well as my three uncles, nine cousins, two brothers, two stepsisters, and countless friends,” she said.
North Penn High School senior swimmer Maddie Faikish recalls growing up in the water at North Penn High School’s Rick Carroll Natatorium on Monday, May 19, 2025.“Each and every practice, and every lap, taught me discipline, resilience, and passion,” she said, learning the value of hard work, the joy of teamwork, and the sprit of competition. “The new pool will bring fresh opportunities for the next generation of swimmers. And though the new the new pool may change the walls, the sense of family and pride will live on. This pool shaped my story, and I know will continue to inspire many more athletes,” she said.
Current school board President Cathy McMurtrie said the project has been a topic of discussion since she joined the board in 2019, and will run into 2030.
Rendering of a planned new addition to North Penn High School, to be built between the school’s current A-pod and F-pod in the planned second phase of renovations starting in 2026 and as presented to the school board on Tuesday, May 7, 2025. (Screenshot of NPTV video)“The purpose that I heard back then was a vision to create a 21st century learning center for decades to come, for our high school students. So it’s not lost on me that this is much more than a construction project,” she said.
The board president then thanked the administrators, staff, teachers, students and consultants who have helped shape the $260 million plans for the overall project, including the roughly $31 million first phase for which a contract was awarded in January, and will refine and finalize the plans for the future phases as contracts are awarded in the coming months.
Longtime North Penn swim coach Rick Carroll poses for a photo with young swimmers as school board member Christian Fusco drills away at a wall of tile at North Penn High School’s Rick Carroll Natatorium on Monday, May 19, 2025.Draining the pool
Bauer then drew the largest cheers of the day by noting the pool had hosted the high school’s Iron Knights triathlon event over the weekend and would be drained starting Tuesday, then introduced Carroll to do the honors.
“I personally have known Rick for over 30 years, and he was always, and still is, a legend in my mind,” Bauer said.
As local officials took turns swinging hammers and posing for photos, state Rep. Steve Malagari, a North Penn grad who swam in the prior pool, said he and his office have discussed possible grants that could go toward the overall renovations or smaller parts of the project
“To see the renovations come to fruition: a lot of road bumps along the way, but to get to this point is a testament to the hard work of everybody involved. I’ve been hearing about it since I was a student,” he said.
North Penn’s Director of Facilities and Operations Bill Slawter supervises as kids chip away tiles from a wall of North Penn High School’s Rick Carroll Natatorium on Monday, May 19, 2025.District director of facilities and operations Bill Slawter said the targeted reopening date for the pool will be in the first week of December, and he and contractors will give updates on the renovations at the board’s monthly facilities and operations committee meetings.
Hassler said he has heard plenty of support from the community.
“A lot of excitement, about what it’s going to be when it’s done, and more excitement just to get started and see what it looks like,” Hassler said.
The district’s swim community is “unbelievable,” and coaches and the board have already started making arrangements for offsite locations during competitions this fall: “We’ll work through that, go through some of the pains of the renovation, to move into a beautiful pool when it’s ready,” Hassler said.
North Penn school board member Kunbi Rudnick, left, snaps a selfie with fellow school board members at North Penn High School’s Rick Carroll Natatorium on Monday, May 19, 2025.What happens to the scoreboards and the leaderboard on the wall? “We haven’t decided yet if it’ll be a new leaderboard, which I’m hoping it will be,” said Nicholson, and all current records and leaders on the board have been thoroughly documented so their records will stand when the pool’s back open.
“Looking forward to coming in here tomorrow, when the contractor’s here, and the pool’s starting to be emptied. While this isn’t the main part of the project, it’s a starting point that’s really exciting,” Nicholson said.
What happens next?
Renovations to K-pod will be staggered, Hassler said, moving from upper to lower floors, so some work will be done over the summer and others through the rest of the year.
“There will be a time when second floor’s under renovation, and the third floor has students in it, and so does the first,” Nicholson said.
Once the pool is drained, the district will likely have a livestream where residents can watch the renovations online, the superintendent added, and will aim to do regular public updates, while a program for those who attended the ceremony included a link to renderings of the renovation plans.
As for those tiles, they’re from when the pool was first rehabbed in 2005, and samples were given away with stickers reading “Diving into a new era” to mark the start of the renovations: “They were down in the basement, and we brought ’em up, and people are leaving with boxes of them, which is hilarious,” Bauer said.
Former Superintendent Curt Dietrich recalled the start of the planning process for the high school renovations in the late 2010s, and the pandemic that put those plans on hold.
“It was a long haul to get where we are now. We had a plan in place, and then Covid hit, and that changed everything. It took some patience, and some hard work, but we’re finally here,” he said.
Dietrich also recalled jumping into the pool during a district fundraiser years ago, and several emergency fixes and failures that prompted the district’s design team to tackle the pool upgrades first.
“One of the first things I had to do when I first became superintendent was, the smell was so strong, so we had to put in a system down in the basement to deal with that. We had a lot of people who had trouble with their eyes and their breathing. And then we had an issue with the bulkhead, where a swimmer cut his foot, and we had to emergency drain the pool and have someone come in and weld that spot that had come loose. So…lots of memories. And now we’re here,” Dietrich said.
North Penn’s facilities and operations committee next meets at 7 p.m. on May 27 and the full board next meets at 7 p.m. on June 3; for more information visit www.NPenn.org.
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