Trending
NORTH JACKSON ---- The Jackson-Milton Local School District has broken ground for its new expansive field house to support the school system’s various sports teams.
"The field house is approximately 30,000 square feet. We're going to house our wrestling here ... currently they practice down at the old stadium, but everything will be on campus
now," said Kirk Baker, superintendent of Jackson-Milton schools.
"Down below, it's going to have a 40-yard indoor turf for softball and baseball practice ... We're going to have locker rooms for the visitor [teams] and home team for us, and then we're going to have restrooms for everybody,” he added.
Concession stands, office and storage space also are planned for the field house.
Baker said he considers the new field house to be a major upgrade to existing facilities for student athletes and visitors to the facility.
"Right now, currently at our football field, we're using porta potties right now unless you have to go in the school for something," Baker said. "Right now our concession stands are in a shed that we bought, so it's going to be a major upgrade,” he said.
Planning for the field house began years ago when the school's administration saw a need for new facilities after the district’s stadium was moved to Jackson-Milton's main campus.
"We've been planning to build this field house for probably seven to eight years. It was probably four years ago we knew that we either had to put money into the old stadium because the bleachers needed all redone, and the parking lot was kind of a mess," Baker said.
As for why it's taken years, Baker explained that the school's administration needed that time to gather funding for the project. He praised the Jackson-Milton Board of Education for saving the funds needed for the field house.
"[It's] just taken us a long time to save up the money," Baker said. "The board has done a great job in being proactive and saving money to build this, so we have the money to build it now."
The field house was designed by BSHM Architects and will be built by Brock Construction Co. Baker gave a tentative timeline for the field house's progress, which is dependent on weather conditions for this upcoming winter.
"We did the ground breaking, but they're supposed to break ground in two weeks. They're going to start with the sewer lines and the water lines, and run them back. Then they're going to start working on the foundation, and the metal and everything has been ordered. That's supposed to be delivered in January or February," Baker said.
He projects completion by September depending on weather conditions.
"It's a great time to be a Blue Jay, and I think it's going to be a very exciting time when it opens," Baker said. "It's going to promote a lot of good, positive feedback I think once the community sees it up and running, and all the kids I think are going to enjoy it."