Log In


Reset Password
News Education Local News Nation & World New Mexico

Board pledges to renovate stadium

Plans look at fixing school’s field, track
A Durango High School physical-education class works out Thursday on the school’s decaying track. Durango school board members have agreed to fund half of the estimated $1.8 million needed to rehabilitate Durango High School’s aging football and track fields.

Durango School District 9-R board members are ready to fund up to 50 percent of the cost to renovate the high school stadium field and track.

The last clause of a proclamation read Tuesday was crucial. In it, board members agreed to commit half of the total project cost – an estimated $1.8 million – from capital-fund reserves.

The board previously set aside $233,000 toward the job. The work will focus on upgrading the playing field and the eight-lane track that rings it.

Stadium seating, for example, is not included in the estimates.

Durango High School Principal Leanne Garcia said work must include independent access to playing fields. Visitors currently must go through the front door, and they must re-enter the school for restrooms.

The situation creates a security problem, Garcia said.

Dave Preszler, director of activities at Durango High School, and Sheldon Keresey, retired athletic director, will head a community outreach and fundraising campaign.

They’re looking for support from local sports groups that use the track and field and from touring national and state organizations. They’ll also seek contributors of in-kind labor and just plain dollar donors.

Preszler said he expects to be the point man.

The overused playing field and track have been patched and repatched to the point they have nothing left to give. The last general renovation occurred in 1996.

They are in such disrepair that the home of the high school soccer program is at Riverview Elementary School, and the track team’s home meets last year were held in Bayfield.

Among planned upgrades are resurfacing the track, switching from a grass playing field to an artificial surface, and preparing a place for the pole vault and long-jump facilities.

Upgrading the athletic facilities is important because they double as outdoor classrooms for band, physical education and health classes, Garcia said.

Research shows that athletic activities improve overall academic performance, Garcia said.

More than 80 percent of the 1,000 DHS student body engages in at least one outdoor extracurricular activity at the school, she said.

“We’re going to move as fast as possible,” Preszler said.

daler@durangoherald.com



Reader Comments