The Seckman High School baseball team will play at a renovated facility this spring.
Fox C-6 Board of Education members have agreed to have new infield turf installed at the school’s baseball/softball field. The district also will replace the backstop and dugouts on the field.
The new turf and other updates were part of $1,902,424 in capital improvement expenditures the board recently approved for both the Seckman campus in Imperial and Fox campus in Arnold.
Both campuses have high, middle and elementary schools, and the Arnold campus includes the Bridges Alternative School, the Central Office and Rickman Auditorium.
Along with the field renovations, board members voted unanimously Dec. 17 to upgrade the electric supply for the dust systems at Seckman and Fox high schools’ industrial arts workshops and to replace the asphalt at the Fox campus, 751 Jeffco Blvd., in Arnold. The asphalt project also covers the parking lot and bus lot at the nearby Fox Service Center, 849 Jeffco Blvd.
The asphalt project is the most expensive among the improvements, at $1,260,550, and Ford Asphalt of Bridgeton was hired to complete the project. The field project will cost $463,374, and that contract was awarded to ATG Sports Industries of Festus. The electric supply system project costs $178,500 and was awarded to Reinhold Electric of St. Louis.
Field renovations
Tracy Schmidt, Seckman High assistant principal and activities director, said the baseball/softball renovation project would be completed in March, with the infield turf expected to be replaced by March 1, and the dugouts and backstop by March 15.
Schmidt said the baseball season begins on March 4, but Seckman’s first home baseball game is not until March 28 when it hosts Fox High.
“I’ve already worked with our coaching staff, and I’m working with other schools in the area and other facilities just in case (the field is not ready to be used when practice starts),” Schmidt told school board members. “We will be prepared that our team will have a place to practice and get ready for their season.”
Schmidt said ATG, which replaced the field turfs at Seckman and Fox high schools’ athletic stadiums after heavy rains damaged those surfaces in July, submitted the lowest of six bids despite board documents showing lower bids from Byrnes and Jones and Sports Con.
Byrnes and Jones submitted two bids, one for $463,000 and a second for $547,000 because the lower bid did not cover all the required work for the project, Schmidt said.
He also said Sports Con’s bid of $460,829 did not cover all the required work, such as painting a logo behind home plate and dugout equipment. The additional work not covered by Sports Con’s bid would have pushed that company’s price up by $18,700 for a total of $479,529.
“ATG also offered an option to provide electricity to the dugouts,” Schmidt said. “ATG also offered an option for a concrete walkway behind the dugouts. The total of $463,374 also assumes the electrical work to the dugouts will cost the highest point of $8,000, but it could cost less, thus lowering the total cost.”
Superintendent Paul Fregeau said the district had not planned to replace the infield turf this school year, but because insurance covered the cost to replace the damaged stadium turf, school officials reallocated the $500,000 budgeted to replace Seckman High’s stadium turf to the baseball/softball field project.
“We at Seckman and the Fox C-6 School District are pleased that we can complete this project to provide our student-athletes and physical education students at all three Seckman campus schools a high quality facility in which to participate and learn,” Schmidt said. “The new turf field, backstop and dugouts will provide a safe and supportive environment for our students, while also offering an aesthetically pleasing view and sightlines for our spectators. This facility will be a source of community pride and is one of several improvements to our athletic facilities in the last two years.”
Schmidt, who will be the district’s chief operating officer starting next school year, said Fox C-6 plans to complete a similar project at the Fox High baseball/softball field during the 2025-2026 school year.
Asphalt project
Kevin Piel, C-6 facilities director, said the asphalt work on the Fox schools campus is expected to begin after the school year is complete. The district’s final day of the 2024-2025 school year is scheduled for May 23.
He said the project is expected to be completed either near the end of June or the start of July.
Piel said he didn’t know when the asphalt was last replaced at the Fox campus or at the Fox C-6 Service Center and bus lot but guessed it was between 10 and 15 years ago.
“Some spots are beyond ‘patch’ and will need full-depth repairs, and other areas are very pothole ridden,” he said of the parking lots’ conditions.
Piel said summer school classes will be held at Fox district schools this summer but not at the Fox campus, and he will work with school officials to try to make sure the asphalt work doesn’t disrupt other summer activities, such as athletic camps or club meetings at the campus.
“This process will come with some inconvenience, but I will be meeting with the building administration and activities directors to form a schedule so that we have as few interruptions as possible,” he said.
Ford Asphalt submitted the lowest of six bids for the project, board documents show.
Dust system electric supply
Reinhold Electric submitted the only bid for the work to update the electric supply for the dust systems in the Fox and Seckman high schools’ industrial arts workshops.
Fox C-6 had replaced the dust removal systems at the two high schools in 2022 because those systems were no longer adequate. However, due to an error, the electric system to power the new dust removal systems was not upgraded at the same time, Fregeau told school board members.
“When we were running the shop with only one shop and one instructor, the system was legal and sufficient,” Fox High industrial arts instructor Jason Rodaway said. “Due to the success of the program, our numbers have more than doubled.
“With the new systems, they will be sized for the spaces correctly, and most importantly, the fire safety codes will be up to par,” he said.
Rodaway said the industrial art classrooms are being used, but students must use portable dust-collecting units that require frequent emptying.
“Our projects this semester have been limited to tools that are hooked up to independent units,” he said. “(The portable units) are sufficient and safe to be operating.”
Piel said some of the items needed to upgrade the system may take up to six weeks to be delivered, so the electric supply upgrades are expected to be completed by the end of January.