A 19-acre package of land near the high school could be the site of a new football stadium for the district.
GNADENHUTTEN The idea of a new athletic facility at Indian Valley High School came one step closer to reality Monday night when the Indian Valley Board of Education met.
The board approved a resolution authorizing the execution of a purchase agreement to buy approximately 19 acres of land near the high school with the idea of building a new football stadium, while at the same time approving a resolution to begin the process of initiating a bond issue to pay for the facility.
The land, which would be purchased from Tusco Limited Partnership for $15,000 an acre contingent on the bond issue passing, is located behind the softball field behind the school.
"People came to us and said 'we've got to do something,'" IV Board President Bob Hall said during the meeting. "Our facility at Midvale has done it's time. They came to us — we're wholeheartedly in favor of this and we think it's a great thing — and that's what generated this."
The district is attempting to time a new bond issue to go into effect when the current issue, passed in 1995 for building projects, expires in 2019.
"It's very timely with the 1995 bond issue coming off, the language on the ballot issue can be worded as such that it won't start to collect, if its successful, until that '95 issue is off and we can do it in a manner that the taxpayers wouldn't see an increase in their taxes," Superintendent Ira Wentworth pointed out.
The school currently holds its home football games and track meets at Kelley Field near the Midvale Elementary and there is only a makeshift practice facility at the high school in Gnadenhutten.
There are no locker rooms or changing facilities, so players leave the high school and change for practice in their cars. During track season, the athletes leave the school and drive to the track at Kelley Field.
"One of the primary benefits of this is that the facility will be at the high school and the kids can go to practice after school as opposed to, during track season, having teenagers drive to Midvale... that's always a concern," Wentworth said.
The facility would go beyond mere athletic contests.
"This would benefit even a broader cross section of our student body, more than just physically football and track," the superintendent noted. "Some of the thoughts behind the design would provide a larger weight room area for all of our sports and allow the band to get off of center field of the baseball field and have their own place to practice, whether its on the grass or inside the stadium.
"One of the things that schools often see with a new facility is an increase in the number of kids that participate in extra curricular activities. So often, we think about reading, writing, social studies and science, but there's another part to education too and that's the physical side. We often hear the mantra that there's got to be more than what we're doing than a test and that's absolutely right. To get kids involved in extra curriculars and to exercise and to be healthy, well-rounded human beings is part of our mission."
The facility at Kelley Field has been in use since the late 1950s when the field, named after the family that donated the land, was used by Midvale High School and then for Indian Valley North and South. Wentworth said that the Midvale field would be maintained and transitioned to a practice facility for middle school teams.
"One of the challenges we have now (at Kelley Field) is parking, especially at big events," Wentworth said. "We've been fortunate the last couple years to host home playoff football games and parking is problematic. People are parking on the on and off ramps to 250. We don't have a facility where we can host playoff games with other teams and we don't host track and field events because we're limited in size. That could all benefit our kids because our booster club profits from that.
"I never want to sound ungrateful (about Kelley Field), the facility has been a blessing. Indian Valley communities have a lot of history, a lot of tradition and a lot of memories there and everyone is very grateful for that facility and just transition it to its next phase of use."