The Bangs ISD Board of Trustees on Tuesday night unanimously approved the installation of new turf at Memorial Stadium, and also discussed additional renovation ideas, though no additional action was taken.
Hellas Construction will provide state of the art turf, a new type of padding underneath to reduce the risk of concussions, and infield granules that will reduce the temperature of the playing surface at a cost of $668,126. (IN THE PHOTO – A Hellas Construction representative shows the new turf to Bangs school board members Justin Duncan, Steven Fuqua and Dennis Sanchez.)
“It’s time to get new turf in and we’re trying to do it right for our kids,” said Bangs ISD Superintendent Dr. Josh Martin. “We put a lot of thought into little things like design that will fire kids up in our community, but also safety. We’re getting a crash pad put in it, our infield is going to have cooling properties. We wanted to make sure if we were going to put this much investment into it we did it right for the kids, the community and the district.”
Other items discussed included new LED lighting for the Memorial Stadium field, as well as swapping home and visitor sides of the field and the installation of additional bleachers.
Martin stated the lights would roughly cost $110,000, while the most popular idea for the bleachers – adding a six-foot walkway, two rows of bleachers from the 18 to 18 yard lines, 10 rows of bleachers for reserved seating from the 40 to 40 yard lines, and moving the current press box on the visitors side atop the new stands – could cost in the neighborhood of $305,000.
Potential payment methods were also entertained but, again, plans and prices were not finalized as those projects would go out for bid if a decision to proceed is eventually made.
The Bangs ISD Wellness Center, which will be funded from up to $625,000 in ESSER 2 allocations, is in the works as well as a contract was approved with CADCO Engineering. What money isn’t used in the construction will go toward equipment, Martin said in addressing the board. The Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act was signed into law by Congress on Dec. 27, 2020 and provides $54.3 billion for the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER II Fund).
“We have our Bangs ISD Wellness Center that we’re putting in which is going to be a weight room for athletics kids to use, but we’ll also have opportunities for people in the community to use it,” Martin said. “We’re also talking about finally making a bleacher switch to get our home fans out of the sun, which I think might be the most exciting part for everybody. We’ve got a lot of things going at one time, but we definitely want to have it done by football season. Honestly if we can get it all in by mid-June, that’s what I’m shooting for.”
Also at Tuesday’s meeting, a school board election was ordered for May7 for three places – two expired three-year terms and one two-year unexpired term.
The purchase of three smaller buses – one for special education needs and two 14-seat vehicles – was also approved unanimously with the money coming from ESSER 3 Phase 2 funding.
Also decided at the meeting, outdated technology will be recycled by STS Recycle after a unanimous vote by the board
TASB Policy Updates were also approved unanimously.
During open forum at the start of Tuesday’s meeting, Curtis Perkins addressed the board regarding an alleged teacher-student altercation.
Prior to Perkins’ statement, Bangs ISD School Board President Eric Lykins said, “No. 1 we want to thank you for taking the time to share with the board. There are two or more sides to every story so thank you for sharing yours. While the trustees might wish to respond in some ways, the law prevents us from discussing or disclosing many things publicly. We do thank you for your input.”
Perkins’ statement is as follows:
“Sometime in the middle of football season, my son was going to after school workouts and was not dressed out in his athletic equipment. The coach was upset by this and scolded our son with profanity because he slapped him in the face and told him don’t make me do this again. My son then went and changed his clothes and returned to work out. The coach was getting on to some other kids as my son approached. The coach began trying to have a conversation with my son and called him (two expletives) because he didn’t want to look him in the face as he was upset from being struck. The coach then said to my son to look at me before I do what I did to you earlier and which point my son looked him in the face and answered yes sir in an attempt to bring the conversation to an end. After practice the coach came to our house to apologize to our son and we were not yet aware of why this apology was required.
Now there a few things wrong with this whole encounter. First and foremost, coaches are respected members of the school and community and should be held to a standard of professional that was not present at this time. Second, for a coach to try and use fear and intimidation on a student as a form of discipline is a gross abuse of his authority. The coach had our son scared to speak up about the encounter for fear of the coach not allowing him to participate in athletics.
He is a National Honor student, active in local school sports throughout the year, and participates in One-Act Play and UIL. His school involvement keeps him busy around the clock and studies hard to make good grades. He should not have to stress about whether or not he’ll be able to participate in sports for fear that the coach will throw his weight around.
Attempts to bring this up to the school have been made and there hasn’t been much done. What kind of example are we setting for our kids if we let this kind of negligence take place in the school that we’re sending our children to? We trust the staff at Bangs ISD to guide, educate and protect our kids everyday that we sent them there. When it becomes an issue of protecting our kids from the staff that has to bring cause for concern. We live in Bangs and want our kids to come to this school. As people, we strive our best to teach our kids right from wrong and practice doing the right thing in all situations, and the right thing has not been done.”
The name of the coach was not revealed and neither the board nor Martin commented on the matter.
(story and photo by Derrick Stuckly of Brownwoodnews.com)