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PB SUPERINTENDENT DISCUSSES ARTIFICIAL TURF

By Scott Loftis/Of the Commercial Staff
Wednesday, November 18, 2009 8:43 AM CST

Pine Bluff School District Superintendent Frank Anthony gave the district’s board some preliminary information Tuesday regarding the possibility of installing artificial turf at Jordan Stadium.

Speaking at the board’s November meeting, Anthony outlined some potential pros and cons of installing artificial turf and also discussed the need for repairs to the track at the stadium. Anthony said he will present more detailed information at the board’s December meeting.

Anthony said there are four key advantages to installing artificial turf: Reduced maintenance costs because the field will not have to be watered, fertilized, mowed or lined; increased playability, since the turf does not wear faster with increased use; less risk to the environment because it will not require the use of pesticides; and increased safety for the athletes. Anthony said studies have shown that playing on artificial turf results in fewer injuries than natural surfaces.

Installing an artificial surface at Jordan Stadium would cost around $600,000, Anthony said, and the turf would last about 12 years before it would need to be replaced. He said the district could cover about half the cost through a fundraising project.

The maintenance savings alone would total $75,000 to $90,000 a year, Anthony estimated.

Artificial turf might also be beneficial to the Pine Bluff High School football team, Anthony pointed out.

“It would play to our strengths,” he said. “We might not always have those big 300-pound linemen, but we’re going to always have speed.”

Anthony said the track at Jordan Stadium has not been resurfaced in more than 10 years. He estimated the cost to resurface the track at $140,000 to $160,000.

In other business, the board elected Jimmy Fisher as president, David Brown as vice president, Herman Horace as recording secretary-treasurer and Doug Brown as financial secretary as well as approving several personnel changes.

During the public comments period, which followed the adjournment of the regular meeting, the board heard from a representative of the 34th Avenue Elementary School PTO who asked for the board’s help in addressing “communication” issues involving the school’s principal and teachers, and from Pine Bluff High School teacher Mattie Collins, who invited the board to visit the school and see several areas that she said were in need of repairs.

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