Windham Gone Wild!
August 8, 2008
Pelham-Windham News
School Board Asks Town Officials to Let High School Construction Rep Do His Job
Windham School Board members are concerned about the amount of time that the owners’ representative for the construction of the new high school is spending on projects not directly related to school district issues. In light of that concern, School Board Chairman Barbara Coish sent a letter to Town Administrator David Sullivan. That letter was read in public during the selectmen’s board meeting on Monday, July 28.
Glenn Davis is the person to whom the correspondence refers. “He is being pulled in a hundred directions,” Coish said of the job Davis is doing. “He’s more than out straight!” Rather than helping town officials with issues unrelated directly to the high school construction, Davis needs to be “concentrating on the project at hand” (i.e., the new Windham High School, which is expected to open to students in September of 2009), Coish said.
In her letter, on behalf of the entire Windham School Board, Coish writes to Sullivan that she is contacting him “with a request of great importance to the (school) board, which directly relates to the continued success of the high school construction project. I ask you to relay the following request to all Windham Selectmen, department heads, and agents. As school board chair, I am concerned with the amount of time that the construction representative, Glenn Davis, is spending on issues unrelated to the project for which he is responsible.”
“The owners’ representative is working well outside the contractual obligations of his agreement with the district and has willingly taken on other projects on behalf of the Windham School District as a whole,” Coish wrote. “This willingness to assist the district is consuming much of his valuable time, however, which concerns me greatly.”
In an effort to relieve some of the additional draws on Davis’ time, Coish requested that Sullivan instruct representatives of the town to contact either her or school board member Bruce Anderson directly, before contacting Davis about any issue that is unrelated to the project as presently permitted.
“I am sure that you will agree that it is of vital importance that Glenn Davis concentrate on the scope of his contract, in order to ensure that the high school project remains on schedule,” Coish said.
Following the reading of her letter at the meeting, Coish said that she believed her request “was already working.”
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School Board Hears Appeal for More Fields
Windham School Board has heard another appeal to add fields at Windham’s still unfinished high school.
Windham’s Athletic Director, Bill Raycraft, who came to Windham from John Stark Co-op High School, spoke at the recently held school board workshop. His topic was the need for more field space and the need for it sooner rather than later.
“We currently have five fields in the plans and being developed,” said Raycraft. “With those fields, four out of five are scheduled to be used for both practice and games, with the other field being the full-time practice field.”
According to Raycraft, Windham High School will play a predominately junior varsity schedule the first year that the school is open, but even that will crowd the fields. He also indicated that he expects to have a few varsity teams the first year. Over and over, Raycraft talked about the issues of field overuse and soil compaction.
Even with the current fields, there are concerns the very first year. “Only one soccer field will force back-to-back games when JV and Varsity teams are playing,” stated Raycraft, who pointed out that if the field is being used for a game by one team, then another team cannot practice. With both boys and girls teams, he said he didn’t know where all the teams would practice.
Raycraft has worked in an environment without adequate field space before and talked about his experiences at John Stark where parking lots, classrooms, and school hallways were used as practice space.
Fields that are used daily throughout the year have problems not associated with fields that can be rested for a season. Raycraft said that sod would have to be replaced, perhaps more than once a year, in order to maintain the fields in a suitable playing condition. However, sod replacement brings its own set of issues as fields cannot be used while sod is being laid and should not be used immediately after placement. Raycraft said this would negatively impact Windham school sports as well as community usage.
The replacement of sod would need to become a budget line item. No one gave an estimate for this, but later in the meeting it was stated that sod replacement, repairing compacted fields, and general maintenance on grass fields is much more expensive than using artificial turf.
Field hockey will use the outfield of the baseball field. The two teams have different field configurations and Raycraft expects to have dirt patches in the baseball outfield as a result. “We won’t have time to re-seed and grow grass between the two sports.”
He also pointed out that football will be unable to practice and play on one grass field. “With 60 to 80 players, the field will tear up and become unsafe due to compaction and loss of grass padding,” Raycraft said before he explained how the drills often tear up the sod, making a second field a necessity. He also said that the heavier the bodies, the more compaction the field shows.
By the second year, Raycraft expects to have more teams than can be accommodated at Windham High School fields. “We can cancel sports and not offer what our students will expect, or we can expand the fields. Neither wrestling nor cheerleading can be safely practiced in parking lots.” While many cheerleading teams practice in school cafeterias, Raycraft said that the Windham cafeteria will not be suitable for the cheerleaders.
“As we grow in enrollment and participation in athletics, we will have to look at locations for practices of various teams and need for auxiliary mini-gym,” he said. “With the large size of the main gymnasium, we will double up some teams, but even then we will be short of space.”
The lack of a track will force teams to practice in the parking lot, and Raycraft said it was difficult to simulate relay handoffs, impossible to practice long jumps, high jumps, or pole vaulting. “We will have no home meets for track, and many athletes from winter and fall sports run on the track team as a way to stay in shape.” He also noted that practicing in the parking lot brought its own set of safety concerns.
By the second year, Raycraft estimates that the high school will have six soccer teams. “The six soccer teams will tear up the field prior to the lacrosse season and there is no down time to repair that field. This is what happens when a field is in constant use — one season ends just as the next begins.”
Artificial turf was discussed at length. Both Glenn Davis and Raycraft talked out how the new artificial turf is easier to maintain and not as harsh for athletes who play on it. Raycraft said that putting down artificial turf would help stop compaction on fields used extensively and would alleviate the need to re-sod the fields between seasons. “You will definitely save money if you put down artificial turf.”
There was also discussion of going forward in the near future with an artificial turf field at the high school, using some of the money that is anticipated to be left over in the contingency fund.
During the discussion of an artificial turf field at the high school, school board members talked about using some of the money that is anticipated to be left over in the contingency fund. According to Davis, there’s $1.1 to $1.2 million left in the contingency fund for high school construction at this point. He also said the school is now 70 percent finished so he expects to have contingency dollars remaining.
Installing an artificial turf field by the time the high school opens next September would prevent over-use and the deterioration of the already approved sod athletic fields. The school board did not take any action on an artificial turn installation during the workshop.
Raycraft also made a case for building a track and for putting an artificial turf field inside the track. He asked that the board support surveying the land, showed a map with a potential location of a track, and had support from Davis on the proposed location.
The board consensus was to plan to include approximately $80,000 for engineering and surveying for a track and field at the high school in next year’s school budget (2009-2010). They feel that 30 percent state aid will be available for this. They are also planning to have the actual construction of a track and field put into the CIP plan, anticipating that the project will be put forth to voters in a couple of years, once all four grades at the high school are in attendance. Currently, the actual construction of a track and field would cost about $2.5 million.
Raycraft said, “An additional field inside of the track will help to alleviate overuse of existing fields and allow for all teams to practice. Synthetic turn will allow the field to be used for both practice and games, making one or more of the existing fields into an additional practice or game field for other sports.”
His other recommendation was to make the addition of a mini-gym part of the master plan and said this would help alleviate the lack of indoor practice facilities.