Severna Park, Meade and Glen Burnie should be the next highschools to receive athletic turf fields, Anne Arundel Superintendent Kevin Maxwell said.
After the upcoming lacrosse season ends this spring, turf is expected to be installed at North County, Arundel and Annapolis high schools.
The Board of Education is expected to vote today on the schedule for installing turf at the rest of the high schools.
“We?re now asking the board to prioritize the remaining schools,” said school system chief facility officer Alex Szachnowicz.
“The county government is working on additional grant applications and finding additional funding sources for the rest of the project.”
The construction time line in the four-phase, $8.8 million project is tentative, but phase two could begin this fall, he said, if the school board approves Maxwell?s schedule, which includes:
» Phase three: Old Mill, Chesapeake and Southern high schools;
» Phase four: Northeast and South River high schools.
“It?s predicated on if sufficient money is approved in a timely fashion,” Szachnowicz said, but if all goes well, each school will have turf by 2011.
Field assessments were basedon factors such as grass conditions, drainage, irrigation systems and field use, he added.
Average annual field maintenance costs at the schools are now about $25,000 but will be reduced to about $10,000 with the new fields, Szachnowicz said.
Turf fields will allow the school system to avoid high costs associated with irrigation, drainage, grading replacements and repairs, said school system spokesman Bob Mosier.
Broadneck High School has a turf field, which was installed in the summer of 2006.
In November, Broadneck High?s field was intentionally burned, raising the question of how these investments should be protected.
A camera monitors the field and, like other schools, a fence surrounds the field.
Additional lighting at the field will deter intruders and provide more light for the camera, said Bob Yatsuk, the school system?s acting supervisor of school security.
“We?re just trying to be vigilant and keep the gates locked,” he said.
It?s still undetermined what security measures will be taken at the new fields, and will depend on Broadneck High?s success, he said.
