Important Message from the DRRA Board of Directors

DRRA Covid-19 Registration Procedure and Pool Usage Enforcement

Suspension and Disciplinary Committee

Dear DRRA Members:

We are sorry for posting this open letter to the DRRA Website, but wanted
everyone to know that effective immediately, we are going to more aggressively
enforce DRRA’s COVID-19 Registration Procedures and Pool Usage standard protocol.

The Board would have preferred not to do this, but we are unfortunately finding instances of members “gaming” the registration system to their own benefit in violation of the spirit of the community, treating the manager and staff in an abusive or very disrespectful way, and flagrantly violating pool rules imposed on Donaldson Run by the Governor of Virginia and the Arlington County Health Board. Here are several examples:

• Violating the 3 swims per week rule, established to give all 600 member families some opportunity to have pool time;
• Screaming, yelling, and being very disrespectful to the manager and staff.
• Several weeks ago, users of the wading pool brought food with them (which we cannot allow because of COVID-19 rules), didn’t want to leave on time, and ended up dumping the food into the wading pool to express their displeasure; and
• Bullying and harassing through excessive complaining—calling the pool number more than 20 times in one day while also calling the Manager’s phone multiple times and sending countless emails (unfortunately, this has happened on multiple occasions).

The good news is nearly all of our members understand the difficult situation we are all in with COVID-19, agree that safety is our top goal, and support maximizing all members’ opportunities to get in the pool, our staff’s efforts to keep the pool as clean as humanly possible and abide by all state and county-imposed requirements. The entire
Board of Directors deeply thanks everyone for their positive support at such a
difficult time.

For everyone’s benefit, we remind you of DRRA’s discipline procedures:

1. Members’ pool privileges will be immediately suspended for 7 Days for any infraction by the General Manager, with no appeal.

The Board voted unanimously for the below resolution in July.

We urge aggressive enforcement of the 7-day immediate suspension of pool membership of members and their families who are disrespectful and/or hostile, to the manager, pool staff, and other DRRA members. We also want to
signal those who regularly break the registration rules that their actions are hurting other DRRA members.

The suspension of pool privileges for 7 days (starting from the date of the infraction) cannot be appealed. Violators will have their pool membership number blocked from making any reservations until the seven days are up and all registrations already made for that period will be cancelled.

2. Multiple offenders will be forwarded to the DRRA Board Disciplinary Committee: Multiple violations or single violations rising to the occasion of being a really “big deal” will be sent to the Disciplinary Committee for prompt action. The committee can extend suspensions, can end the violator’s use of the pool for the remainder of the summer, and can impose even more onerous consequences.

We hope there will be no need to use any of these disciplinary tools. Despite the pandemic, we are all working to further build our DRRA community . But we cannot allow dishonorable actions by a few members to damage what DRRA has built over the decades.

Thank you.

Best wishes.

DRRA Board of Directors

Letter from the President July 30,2020

DR Families

In recent weeks, we have made many adjustments to our reservations process to better utilize the pool capacity.  Last week, the Board also made the difficult decision to cancel the August / September memberships for this season.  Although this was a very tough call, the Board felt this was necessary to avoid adding demand to our already overstretched pool capacity.

Because there are still members who have not been able to get reservations, we will be making some additional changes that will go into effect on August 2:

  • Members are allowed 3 advanced reservations per week:
    • ONE reservation, in total, per person per day.
    • This can be either a family FSS reservation OR an individual Lap Lane/Early Bird Shallow End reservation.
    • Any Family who reserves an FSS spot for a given day, may not also make an individual reservation for that same day, even if that individual member did not attend the FSS swim.
    • FSS reservations are for families of two or more, at all times.Example 1, if you book an individual lap lane for even one member on your account then you cannot also book an FSS reservation on the same day.Example 2, if you book an FSS reservation then no other member on your account can book an individual lap lane for that day.
  •  revised 8/7/20 Day of Reservations
    • After you have used all of your advance reservations, any available “day of” slot may be booked ONE HOUR before that reservation begins. This includes Early Bird lap swim hours.
  • EB lap swim will revert to fewer 45 min spots and mainly 30-minute spots so that staff can spend more time to properly clean.

Things to remember

  • Wading pool reservations are for families with small children under the age of 6, and they are required to stay in the wading pool area.
  • Masks must be worn at all times inside the facility (except while in the pool water or while seated in a chair).
  • Please maintain 10 feet of distance from staff as much as possible. Mask are required to speak with a staff member.
  • The lifeguard on the stand is not allowed by the VDH to address any COVID 19 problems; please speak with the manager on duty.
  • Individual lap lane / EB shallow end reservations are per person.
  • Family FSS reservations are for all members on your account.  A minimum of two members are required to attend.
  • Two No-shows for the season will automatically delete all your reservations for all members in your family.
  • Cancellation of reservations for Early Bird hours must be done before 9pm the night before
  • Canceling must be done at least one hour in advance or it will be a considered a NO-SHOW

Those that do not follow the proper protocol will be subject to inactivation of your account. We know that the vast majority of you are doing your best to follow these rules. Please be considerate of all other members and cancel in advance.  In most cases, someone else will be waiting to take that spot.

Finally, to ensure the safety of all our members, we have added a link to report any COVID 19 symptoms and/or confirmed diagnosis for our membership.  Please email COVID19reporting@drra.org.

Best Regards,

Bob Hutchison
President, DRRA

Letter From President

Dear Donaldson Run Families –

In preparation for moving to a new swim reservations process, all active members must accept the COVID-19 waiver in our on-line membership system. We have set up the COVID-19 waiver just like annual dues registration. All of your Accounts have been set to “Unpaid” to trigger this process. When you log in, you will receive a message saying:

Your Account is not paid for the current season. To make a payment click here.

Click on the link to review and accept the COVID-19 waiver for all members on your account. There is no charge as all of your accounts are already paid in full. Select any payment method to review and submit your order. The payment method will be ignored. Upon completion, your account will be set back to “Paid” status, and you will have access to the new swim reservations process when it is launched later this week.

PLEASE NOTE: You will not be able to reserve swim time without first accepting the COVID-19 waiver on-line.

If you have any trouble with this process, please send an email to drrapool@drra.org.

Best Regards,

Bob Hutchison

Pool Open June 1

Dear Donaldson Run Families –

DRRA will open on Monday, June 1st in accordance with Phase 1 of Governor Northam’s Forward Virginia Guidelines which restrict the use of the pool to swimming only, one swimmer per lane. All other amenities are unavailable during Phase 1, including, but not limited to diving boards, the baby pool, basketball, boot camp, water aerobics, private swim & dive lessons, snack bar services, lounging on the pool deck, and all social events.

The SignUpGenius reservation system opens Sunday, May 31st at 3:00 p.m.  Access here: Swimming Reservations

Reservations to swim are required and can be made 1 day in advance starting at 3:00 p.m.

A SignUpGenius account is not required to use the system. A link can also be found in the Log In section of www.drra.org. A free SignUpGenius Mobile App is available at the AppStore or GooglePlay. The creator email address is reservations@drra.org.

Reservations require members to agree to waive, release, and hold harmless DRRA, its Board members, directors, officers, agents, employees, staff, vendors and volunteers from all claims relating to COVID-19 arising out of the use of DRRA by you or individuals included in your Membership. The full text of the waiver is included on the DRRA web-site through this link:  DRRA COVID-19 Waiver.

The following reservation instructions are online as well:

  • Reservations are available to SHAREHOLDERS AND FULL SUMMER MEMBERS ONLY.  NO GUESTS ARE PERMITTED.
  • A family member ages 18 or above must make the reservations for any individuals in their membership under age 18, due to acknowledgment of the Waiver.
  • Swimmers must be at least 8 years old and must be able to 1) swim independently, 2) not use lane lines for support, and 3) stay alone in their assigned lane.
  • Your MEMBER ID is required to make a reservation.
  • Swimming is by online reservation only; no phone calls or emails.
  • One swimmer per lane. (VA Governors Executive Order)
  • Each individual must have their own reservation.
  • Each individual is limited to 1 swim per day, and no more than 4 swims per week (Sunday thru Saturday).
  • Reservation time slots are 45-min; the pool will be cleared by 40-min after the hour, due to policies and procedures that must be followed due to Phase 1 of Governor Northam’s Executive Order.
  • Late arrivals may not extend their reservation past the time originally allotted.
  • No rain checks for missed reservations or shortened swims due to inclement weather.
  • If you cannot attend at your reserved time, you must cancel online. “No Shows” who do not cancel in advance online will be limited in making future reservations.
  • No substitutions. Only the individual who matches the swimmer’s name on the reservation may enter.
  • Only individuals with reservations will be allowed inside the gates. Accompanying family members and/or nannies must wait in the parking lot; they may not congregate near the entry or exit.

Please plan on responding to health screening questions and a temperature scan at the pool. Detailed information about this and more can be found in the online system.

Best Regards,

Bob Hutchison

Adult Social

All social events are cancelled until further notice due to COVID 19

NO LOBSTER FEAST 2020