There is no shortage of tasks South Kitsap School District’s “long range capital facilities committee” will examine for potential upgrades this year. That is the reality for a district that has not constructed a new building since East Port Orchard Elementary School reopened in 1991.
Among the top priorities should be installing an artificial surface at Joe Knowles Stadium.
The urgency to upgrade the grass — or, perhaps more accurately, the mud pit — was highlighted again late last month. During the home football finale against Stadium, its dangers were on full display. Most notably, Cooper Canton slipped as his plant foot attempted to gain traction during a punt and he remained on his back for a moment.
His father, coach Eric Canton, did not mince words about the development afterward.
“It’s absolutely embarrassing,” he said. “Kids getting hurt. It’s pathetic.”
Not to mention a liability.
It is not difficult to imagine a player’s parents pursuing litigation if their child sustained a serious injury because the field presented a safety hazard.
The well-being of athletes is the most compelling reason to replace the surface at Joe Knowles Field, but there are others. When rain saturates the surface of the field, it does not allow students to perform at an optimal level. The Oct. 24 game required both teams to eschew any creativity and run on almost every down.
The scenario was worse for the girls soccer team. The Wolves’ crucial match against Gig Harbor to determine the Class 4A Narrows League championship was moved a day later to Oct. 29 to Silverdale Stadium because coach Julie Cain said the field at Joe Knowles was “unplayable.”
South overcame that obstacle with a 1-0 win, but its nine seniors deserved home-field advantage and the opportunity to be recognized before their classmates for their accomplishments.
“It was pretty hard to know that we couldn’t play our last game on our home field,” senior Rachael Prince said. “It was pretty upsetting.”
That sentiment has been voiced throughout the years. When the school’s football and soccer programs advance to the state playoffs, those contests cannot be held at Joe Knowles Field. Washington Interscholastic Activities Association does not allow games in the final two rounds of the state playoffs to be held on grass surfaces.
WIAA executive director Mike Colbrese said the rule was instated to put athletes on surfaces that are “safer that time of the year” and because most coaches prefer playing on an artificial surface.
The rule has become a costly proposition for the Wolves. When their football program last advanced to state in 2009, they had to rent Mount Tahoma High School’s stadium to “host” Skyline. South also has rented Silverdale Stadium and Purdy’s Roy Anderson Field for past events.
SKSD athletic director Ed Santos said that typically costs $1,500 for football, with the school keeping the rest of the proceeds from the game. He said a football game at Joe Knowles generates between $6,000 and $7,000.
These are all reasons why most high-school venues in the Puget Sound region have moved away from natural surfaces during the last few decades. Locally, Silverdale Stadium has featured turf since 1990 and both North Kitsap School District high schools have artificial surfaces.
The installation expense is not insignificant. Many school districts have spent upward of $1 million on that. Santos said in the past that the cost is higher at Joe Knowles Field because of drainage issues that will require excavation.
But there also are economical benefits. It costs money to fertilize, aerate and reseed grass fields. According to the News-Gazette in Champaign, Ill., where Danville High School is considering the switch from a natural to synthetic turf field, estimated maintenance costs would decrease from $35,000 to $9,500 per year.
An artificial surface also would enable SKSD officials to rent the facility to youth organizations and others. If the district charged $100 per hour and rented out the facility an average of four hours 200 times per year, that would generate $80,000. That revenue, as long as it was saved, would enable SKSD to replace the field in a decade — and have money remaining for other upgrades — because infrastructure makes replacements less expensive than the original project.
It is an endeavor the school district will have to undertake, though. After all, community leaders have spent years trying to find solutions to finance a field through grants. During the 2009-10 school year, the South Kitsap Community Sports Foundation was established with a focus on putting turf surfaces on Joe Knowles as well as the lower practice field and the fastpitch area.
Nearly five years later, no tangible progress has been made.
The more obvious solution, if the goal of SKSD’s committee is to make recommendations for a capital facilities levy, would be to roll that project into any proposal for a field that benefits not only the school, but the community, as well.
