BOE member responds about Northwood track concerns

Posted Friday, March 30, 2007

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Siler City, NC - Both my daughters ran track at Jordan-Matthews and I have argued for new tracks since my oldest was a freshman (she is now a senior at UNC). All three high schools have tracks that are pretty much in the same condition and none can host conference meets. No other schools in either conference still have asphalt tracks and they aren't used in conference meets because they lead to more injuries to runners.

New tracks have been in our long-range plan since my first year on the board.

New rubberized surface tracks are in our budget request for the coming year. They were in the original bond request presented to the Board of Commissioners (before past Commissioners decided to fund Virginia Cross Elementary, the new northeast middle school, and the additions at JM through Certificates of Participation). After those projects were funded with COPs, the Board of Education was told that a bond request could only be for the amount of the proposed new high school because that was all the county could afford to borrow with the current revenue stream. It appears the current BOC will also fund the new high school with COPS (they haven't officially voted yet). While that is a very good thing for the new high school, it doesn't provide any funding for the tracks. That leaves us having to fund the new tracks through our capital outlay budget. The proposed budget can be found on the Chatham County Schools website and the track requests are on page 12. We do not yet have the funding for these projects but we are hoping to fund new tracks at each high school with our anticipated lottery proceeds.

I appreciate your concerns and I am in complete agreement with you.

Our students deserve to have decent tracks and they should not be expected to practice on old asphalt tracks then compete on a very different surface and our schools should be able to host competitive events. They deserve new tracks and we hope to make that happen this year. As for the rest of the track and field competition equipment (starting blocks, vaults, hurdles, etc.), they are funded by each individual school's athletic department so that might be an issue to discuss with your athletic director or booster club.

Thank you for your email. Parent input is very important to us. I feel confident that this will be the year we will finally get new tracks but it won't be until summer so please be patient with us one more track season.

Deb McManus