Wet weather continues to impede progress on the Jefferson R-7 School District’s project to renovate and upgrade the turf field at its football stadium.
The track and field complex, off Hwy. 61 at Dooling Hollow Road southeast of Festus, was closed on March 1 and work began that day, although progress has been severely hampered by rainy weather.
“I think we’ve had more rainy days than good at this point,” R-7 Superintendent Clint Johnston said March 17. “But we’ll get it done.”
Johnston said original plans for the project called for it to be substantially complete by April 1.
“So far we’ve had 12 days (off) for weather,” he said Tuesday. “So we’ll be adding that many days to the contract. I would hope to be done about April 16, pending further issues with Mother Nature – but you know she always wins.”
The Board of Education voted 6-1 Feb. 23 to enter a contract with ATG Sports in Festus to install new turf on the field, which was built in the early 2000s and last renovated in 2010.
Board member Wayne Surratt cast the single dissenting vote, saying he thought the selection criteria was too narrow in the bid process.
ATG’s bid was the lowest at $446,280 and includes a new base, new turf and a new pole vault runway and landing pad. The project carries an eight-year warranty on materials and workmanship.
The new turf will include blue end zones and a 45-foot-wide Blue Jay logo at the field’s center. Soccer pitch markings will be included, although the district currently does not offer that sport.
“At our current enrollment numbers, we can’t support soccer without it drastically affecting the football and track programs,” Johnston said. “But it’s certainly something we can look at for the future.”
Many parts of the stadium complex have been acquired through donations from district patrons, both in cash and in labor. Some parts, like the bleachers and scoreboard, were purchased secondhand to keep costs down.
“Back when the track was first put in, around 2000, the National Guard was brought in to do the grading and surface prep work,” Johnston said. “It was a training exercise for them.”
The original turf installation in 2010 cost $675,000 and didn’t include all the improvements school officials had hoped for at the time.
“The original bid came in at $1.3 million,” Johnston said of the 2010 project. “Then we did away with the D-zones, the jump pits, modified the design of the press box, went with fewer seats.”
The stadium’s lights were acquired through donations of cash and in-kind services from district patrons.
A short time later, the opportunity came to upgrade. The original bleachers were moved to the high school baseball field, and a larger set of bleachers was purchased from the Fox C-6 School District when it upgraded its own stadium.
“The bleachers were installed, but had to be rustproofed, the whole underneath metal framework, before we could put the seats on,” Johnston said. “The whole football program – 50 kids, the coaches, a bunch of dads – came out and grabbed paintbrushes and took care of it in a few hours.”
Johnston said collaboration between the school and community has been a strength for the district.
“When you put your hands on something and you’re part of it, you become a vested stakeholder and take pride in it,” he said. “The school is kind of the heartbeat of our community.”
In addition to providing a venue for middle school and high school football and track, the field is used for PE classes, all-school assemblies and PTO events.
Outside of school hours, the field is used by select teams in several sports, and the track is used daily by community
members.