WASHINGTON PARK — The future of a beloved water aerobics class for older people is uncertain after the Park District declined to say whether it will continue next week — or next year.

Since Washington Park’s large outdoor pool reopened in 2024, volunteer instructor Erick Johnson has led a daily class of older people through an hour of full-body workouts each summer. The class normally sees 30 students a day, but it has attracted twice that that during some sessions. 

Participants, who range in age from 60 to 90, say the class was particularly helpful in their lives. Marie Gunn, 82, said the exercise kept her arthritis asymptomatic. Rose Hanley, a retired nurse from Hyde Park, said it allowed her to stay active after her heart surgery — and helped her meet people after retirement.

And they raved about Johnson, whose resume says he is a certified water aerobics instructor who has been teaching since 2001. They said he bought pool equipment for the class with his own money and once even invited a violinist from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to play for a cool-down period after the session was complete.  

It was “magical,” said former lifeguard Ariel Rogers, who worked at the Washington Park pool last summer. “It was like [the attendees] are kids again.”  

Volunteer demonstrator Erick Johnson (in purple bandana) leads as neighbors participate in the senior aquatics exercise class at the Washington Park pool on July 22, 2026. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago

But in May, the Park District moved to end the class. Andrew Walsh, the Park District’s director of aquatics, wrote in an email shared with Block Club that the existence of the class had never been “reported up the chain” by local park staff. He characterized the activity, which was not on the official parks schedule, as Johnson leading “a group of seniors in an unofficial capacity during [Senior] Swim time.” 

In the same email, Walsh said Park District policy dictates that “no classes can be taught by any individual who is not an employee of the Chicago Park District” and therefore Johnson would not be allowed to teach a class this summer.

Johnson was not available for comment.

Terry Rudd, a class participant from Back of the Yards, said she learned from Johnson later in May that he would not be allowed to run the class this year. 

Rudd said she was upset that not only was the class ending, but that the Park District was not going to replace it with an official class on the schedule. 

“We are grown women,” she said. “We don’t want to be hiding.”

Marie Gunn and Sandra Blake float as neighbors participate in the senior aqua exercise class at the Washington Park pool on July 22, 2026. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago

Rudd also said the only other aquatic exercise class listed on the Park District’s website for any age group and offered during the summer — at 7 a.m. at the National Teacher’s Academy near Chinatown — was inaccessible for most of her group.

Upset, about 15 class participants banded together and attended a community meeting held by Ald. Jeanette Taylor’s (20th) office in May. Seven of them also spoke about the importance of the class at the Park District’s Board of Commissioners meeting in June.

At the meeting, Park District Supt. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa directed them to Walsh, who later met with the class members. That meeting was also attended by another Park District manager who participants say was sympathetic to their cause.

Participants later received an email forwarded by Taylor’s staff from Jim Harney, Park District project manager, stating a class was being added to the schedule. However, it would only meet three days per week because of the difficulty in hiring lifeguards and a need for staffing at beaches, he said.

Park District spokesperson Irene Tostado said that classes have to be led by district instructors, who must be lifeguards certified by the American Red Cross and also have Instructor Training Certification. Johnson is allowed to attend the class and “assist in demonstrating the instructor’s exercises,” she said.

The senior aquatics exercise class at the Washington Park pool is ending this week. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago

Tostado said compared to other seasons, summer aquatic programs are limited because “the Park District balances public access to pools with swim times for all ages, including day campers during the six-week camp program.”

The class participants were ecstatic the class came back in late June. But the first summer session ends this week. They are now unsure what will happen for the rest of the summer — or next year. And they still want classes that are five days a week. 

Tostado didn’t respond to questions on whether the class will continue next week or next summer. No class was listed on the online schedule as of Thursday.

“Every time we ended a class, we would get in a circle, and people would pray, thanking that we had something like this on the South Side, and we had access to it,” Rudd said.