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Letter to the Glenvar community from Don Butzer
Dear Parents, Staff and Students of the Glenvar community:
I have received a number of emails and telephone calls regarding the condition of the Glenvar High School football field. I’m writing to explain my position and action plan.
I have a daughter who is a varsity cheerleader at Glenvar. I’m an avid fan of GHS football and never miss a home or away game. I came to the conclusion two years ago, that our field is a “cow pasture“ and have been working to make the case to my fellow School Board members to replace the field. At my recommendation, the school system hired an engineering firm to evaluate the field for drainage, safety and playability. The report concluded that the field was the worst high school field in Roanoke County and should be replaced.
We have had to cancel events and JV football games because the field was either unusable or using the field would have impacted the varsity game. Recently we lost $4,000 in GHS band revenue because the Celtic Classic had to be moved to Salem.
I’m committed to have funding for an artificial turf field and a competition rubber surfaced track allocated next year. The estimated cost for both is $1.6M. Timing is everything. Next year at this time we will have a view of the projected year end operating fund surplus and if it is similar to previous years’ we should have the funding and would be able to start construction and have the field and track completed by the spring of 2020.
Replacing the grass field with an artificial turf field will not only benefit GHS but will benefit our county recreation leagues, as well, giving them more access to the field. I firmly believe that building a competition level track and football field will bring in outside revenue. We will be able to host regional competitions and there are outside recreation leagues that would gladly pay to use the venue.
The Roanoke County Parks and Recreation department does a great job making the field as playable as possible and looking as good as possible. They do the mowing and they donate the paint and time to do the lines. The heavy rains we received last week did not allow lining to happen. Our parks and recreation folks do a great job, but it is still “lipstick on a pig.” I trust that they will make the best of a bad situation for Homecoming this Friday.
Replacing the GHS field is a top priority of mine. I plan to hold a community meeting after the football season to explain the budget and steps that need to be taken to get this project going.
Respectively Submitted,
Donald T. Butzer
Vice Chairman Roanoke County School Board
Catawba Magisterial District
540-520-0530 (cell)