Austin ISD to upgrade high school fields with new turf
AUSTIN (KXAN) — When will Austin Independent School District upgrade high school fields?
From puddles of standing water to divots, ant mounds and even rocks, AISD field conditions around the district have been a talking point for years.
In 2022, before the 2022 bond passed, KXAN spoke with a coach from Travis Early College High School about the conditions he was dealing with.
“I have broken my foot twice on this field right here and once on the bottom field,” said head football coach Joe Frank Martinez back in 2022.
After voters approved the money for the bond, parents reached out again to KXAN asking why no new fields had been put in.
“There was a thought that we could get them done sooner, but it did not pan out that way,” said Michael Mann, AISD’s executive director of construction management. “It did not pan out that way with the planning that is necessary and the permitting that is necessary.”
Mann said those new fields will soon begin construction at 11 high schools.
The new fields will include better lighting, along with new track and field space.
LBJ High School and Northeast Early College High School will see contruction start this semester.
Mann said the new artificial turf fields will be much safer than the current field, and it won’t cost as much to keep them up.
“They weren’t as safe as they could be,” said Mann. “The maintenance, the ground crews did everything they could, the schools were pitching in, but they are difficult to maintain long term.”
Jason Glenn, Executive Athletic Director for AISD, said the fields will also be home to middle school students, who will be able to play games at the high schools they will eventually attend.
“It is a relationship builder for your middle schools,” Glenn said. “You want to build those relationships with your middle school athletes, and also, you get to see them in action.”
For more about the plans click here.
