PEA RIDGE — Blackhawk football players will compete in the old stadium for one more year, but underclassmen will have a new stadium - replete with track - for the 2013 football season, a half a century after the first Blackhawk football players ran out onto the “Pea Bowl.”
Without adding taxes or shortcutting any other program, School Board members agreedthe district could afford to build a stadium this year. At a special School Board meeting Saturday morning, board members approved the recommendation by superintendent Rick Neal to begin the process.
“If there is one thing Mike Van Dyke did very well, it was to put finances aside,” Jenny Wood, School Board member, said.
With the more than $600,000 in savings from refinancingbonds with lower interest rates, the reimbursement from the state partnership funds for the recent construction projects and the .. the school district will be able to construct the new stadium as soon as legal requirements for letting bids is met.
“We had $3.1 million in the building account yesterday,” Neal told board members Saturday, adding that the district still owes Baldwin & Shell about $359,000. “There are a lot of things that played into this - planning of partnership funds for facilities, good budgeting.”
Neal said the bid process can begin and construction should take about fourmonths.
When the stadium was constructed, Pea Ridge was 1A and there were 20 to 30 players. This year, the school is in the 4A conference and there are 60 players on the team.
“It’s a need. If you look at all the facilities, we’ve certainly been blessed to have the facilities where they’re at. This is probably one of the greatest needs we have,” Joshua Ramsey, School Board president, said. “We have over 60 players trying to be housed in a facility that was built for 20 to 30 kids. The bleachers don’t hold near enough for the fans of the home or visitors’ teams. The parking is completely inadequate.”
Ramsey said the school district is in good shape financially and can pay for the stadium without raising money from the taxpayers. “It’s time to make this move,” he said.
Ramsey graduated from Pea Ridge High School in 1988. He played football on the old field.
“That locker room we have now was built my junior year. We were 1A andthere were 22 kids on the team,” Ramsey recalled.
“We certainly put a lot more money into academics than athletics,” Ramsey said, adding that there is a lot of education that goes on through the sports programs including teaching students discipline, team work, accountability.
“It (sports) is a critical part of their development.
“I stood at the football field last year and watched the environment and asked myself ‘How do we transport this real community, almost family reunion atmosphere that takes place every Friday night?’
“I hope we can pull that off. We need to. We want to. That’s truly one of the special things about thatfield that we have,” Ramsey said.
Editor’s note: See page 1B for a drawing of the proposed stadium and projected costs of the project.
News, Pages 1 on 08/01/2012