Lights first step toward athletic upgrades

The Free State High School softball team begins to celebrate as the regional championship trophy is brought onto the field in this Journal-World file photo. Lawrence school board members Monday are expected to defer giving the nod for administrators to seek bids for adding lights to Free State High School's softball field.

It will be the first nudge of the athletic facilities improvement conversation for Lawrence high schools.

But it won’t happen just yet.

Lawrence school board members Monday are expected to defer giving the nod for administrators to seek bids for adding lights to Free State High School’s softball field, said school board President Linda Robinson.

The item is on the agenda, published on the district’s Web site Friday, but Robinson said she would propose deferring it until the Nov. 26 meeting because Superintendent Randy Weseman will be out of town. He may need to be there to answer questions about the process, she said.

“There wasn’t any problem in going forward with the lights. We know we’re going to do that,” Robinson said.

Board members have talked for the last two months about how to improve outdoor athletic facilities at the two high schools. Administrators and board members have also mentioned equity – between both high schools and boys and girls sports – as a goal.

The conversations have spanned many issues, including Lawrence High School only being able to have tennis competition on site, while athletes travel to other fields for baseball, softball and soccer.

At Free State, the baseball field has lights, but the softball field does not. Free State softball coach Pam Pine said the addition will allow the team to practice later into the evening and also start games late enough so players won’t have to miss class.

“I think the girls deserve just as much as the boys do, and I think if you would ask any of them, they do feel a little jilted about not having the things that the boys get or that they have,” she said.

According to a memo from school district administrators Tom Bracciano and Mary Rodriguez, a public-address system will be purchased and installed this fall at the softball field. They have also asked an engineer to develop specifications and solicit bids to furnish and install lights at the field, but they need approval from board members.

The memo does not include a price for the lights, but according to an October estimate from administrators, it would cost between $250,000 to $350,000 to install lights on the softball field.

After bids are received, the school board would need to vote to approve funding. Robinson said after budget cuts in recent years, the district now has some capital outlay funds available.

She also said some cost of the lights could be written off through performance contracting, a financing tool that rewards energy-efficient equipment.

The meeting will be 7 p.m. Monday at school district headquarters, 110 McDonald Drive.