The Van Buren Public Schools cannot accept the new artificial turf football field at Belleville High School until the problem of the big Tiger Paw is solved.
At the March 12 meeting of the school board, School Supt. Michael Van Tassel explained the problem.
He said the 50-yard line and possibly the 45s need to be fixed so they comply with state and national regulations. The yard markers are interrupted by the paw and they have to go through the paw.
“They have to sew a piece in,” Supt. Van Tassel said. “It’s a rug out there.”
The district is in negotiations with the company that installed the field. If the company doesn’t make the field regulation and the district accepts the field as is, the school district would have to do the repair.
“We hired them to meet state and national guidelines,” Van Tassel said.
“Mr. Wills is working quite hard on the paw issue,” Van Tassel said, referring to Paul Wills of Plante Moran CRESA who is managing BHS construction.
Van Tassel said one of the problems is that the company proposed putting in a white line, while the district is holding out for off-orange to match the rest of the field.
He said if the district is lucky, it can take over ownership of the field in June or July. Until then, he can’t let students be on the field.
“If I, that is, we take ownership, we have to fix it,” Van Tassel said.
He said the track team is another entity. It can use the new track, but has to stay off the football field. Coaches walk the students out to the track, he said, a procedure he is not crazy about.
Van Tassel said last year students were running in the streets and the district got complaints.
The explanation about the status of the football field came after Cathy Perry and Elizabeth Vandecar asked the board about it since they are members of the newly organized Belleville Lacrosse Booster Club.
Lacrosse has been running as a club sport for four years and, they said, is gaining in popularity every year.
Vandecar said she heard there had been quarterback clinics held on the new football field and Van Tassel said that is not true and explained about the paw.
Perry asked if the lacrosse players could run around the track for conditioning and Van Tassel said she would have to talk to the high school administration about that since it schedules track use.