Turfing Baseball Field Tone Deaf | News, Sports, Jobs

Editor, News-Register:

This newspaper this past week published a story about the administration of Ohio County Schools recommending a project to the Board of Education to turf the existing baseball field at Wheeling Park High School and add lights for an estimated cost of about $1.6 million dollars. You read that right- $1,600,000. Keep in mind, this is not to build a baseball field where one does not exist. A beautiful, recently upgraded, all grass baseball field sits proudly on top of the hill. The baseball complex already is one of the finest facilities in the state. There is nothing wrong with the existing field at the school, which should be noted currently is not shared with the public or outside organizations. Spending over $1 million dollars to turf this field is simply a luxury; the message being sent to the public is that Ohio County Schools is so flush with cash that all other educational needs have been met.

With this in mind I can only assume that all the schools have met the mental health and academic needs of all students and professional staff. Every school surely has the sufficient number of full-time counselors. No student has to rent a musical instrument. No teacher has to buy his or her own classroom supplies. No parents are being asked to buy tissues and paper towels. All the cracks in the high school’s tennis courts have been addressed; the track and field complex does not look like Ukraine after the bombing started. And I can only assume that all the scaled-back bond projects in each of our schools have been restored.

The champion of this project at the last board meeting appeared to be Assistant Superintendent Rick Jones. This pet project, to say the least, is tone deaf. Ohio County Schools spent like drunken sailors during the pandemic on such useful things as electronic hand sanitizer dispensers and who can forget the smiley masks. It’s time to spend money on things students actually need and not shiny new toys.

David Delk

Wheeling