While the heavy rains of this spring and summer have kept the baseball and softball fields beyond adequately watered, consistently growing turf, which makes for safe fields to play on, is typically not the case.
So, during its June meeting, the Cleveland School Board approved a $107,000 capital expenditure to install an irrigation system on each of the four fields.
The project has been on the board’s radar for several years, and the expenditure will come out of the bond fund, reserves that can only be used for capital projects.
The irrigation system addresses safety concerns and is a step towards higher-quality fields. It is scheduled to be installed as soon as the summer softball and baseball season ends in late July.
“Each year, we make investments to keep up and improve our facilities,” said board chairperson Scott Miller. “These fields see a lot of use throughout the spring and summer, so the board agreed that the irrigation system is a priority.”
With the project, the Cleveland Baseball & Softball Association, a group of district residents who have a goal to improve the fields, will use monies it raised through donations and fundraisers to fill in the swales and holes in the outfields with topsoil and grass seed as needed to level the playing surfaces, further lessening the chance of unexpected bounces and reducing the possibility of injuries.
Also during the June meeting, the board approved an integrated visitor management system, $6000 software and hardware that increases safety by instantly screening and tracking everyone who enters the school.
“Ensuring students and staff are safe at school is always a concern at every school,” Miller said. “This system will be a big part of ensuring our confidence in that at Cleveland School.”
Other improvement projects the school has in the works are improving basketball hoops in the outdoor court, addressing the need to replace the old preschool playground, upgrading the sidewalks to the second and fifth entrances and replacing the pneumatic HVAC control system with an electronic version, which is more reliable and efficient because it eliminates the need to run air compressors.