After much discussion at last Thursday's meeting, Superintendent Chris Gaines threw out an idea to poll district patrons at this past week's Strassenbash festival. The school board had a booth at Diekroeger Park and wanted to give patrons an opportunity to voice their opinion. "It's an eyesore to the district," Board President Austin Jones said about the facilities. A 40-cent tax increase could be put on either the February or April ballot, Jones said. The tax increase also would be used to add air conditioning at the high school. The other three options, Jones said, are to save up money for possibly seven years to fund the upgrades, budget a certain amount yearly for field maintenance upgrades or do nothing. It's expected the school board will make a decision on what direction to go in at its Oct. 16 meeting. Jack Sanford, facilities operations director, told the board he recently attended a conference and was told the cost to install a new track and football field with artificial turf would cost $1.2 million. To install artificial turf alone would cost the district $750,000, he added. Sanford also pointed out a natural Bermuda grass turf with a drainage system would cost $250,000. To install a sprinkler system to be used for the football field initially would cost $17,000. Sanford was told the average lifespan for an artificial turf field is 12 years, but noted that Clayton High School is expected to get 15 years out of its current turf. The benefit of installing artificial turf is that it allows the field to be used for various events with minimal upkeep. The need for athletic practice fields would be minimized, the new turf would allow greater use by gym classes and the high school band and the field wouldn't have to be watered. The current track at the school is too short to hold a state-sanctioned meet. "When you replace that with turf, you now have a field that is usable every single day for whatever," Gaines said. "I talk to colleagues all over, everybody gets grief for putting the turf in, in the end they are glad they did it. It can be used so much." The majority of the board members agreed last week that the athletic facilities are in dire need of help. Melissa Springmeyer, citing recent football knee injuries, said the district has spent too much time overlooking the need to upgrade the appearance. "I think athletics are a much bigger part of a kid's school than what we've put into it," she told the board. "They learn social skills through athletics. They learn leadership through athletics. They learn to compromise through athletics. They learn a lot of life skills through their athletics. "We need to make it a place for the kids where they like to play and want to play and are proud to bring other schools to." School board members also examined how athletics compare to academic needs of the district. Another board member, Mary Groeper, said the athletic fields have been overlooked for academic needs in the past which has led to the present field conditions. She also said a new track needs to be installed if the football field is going to be renovated. "We need to do something," Groeper said. "It's an embarrassment for me." Jones concluded by saying district patrons need to have a say before it goes to a vote at next month's board meeting and possibly later if it's included on a ballot. "I feel as a member of this board we need to somehow ask the patrons what they think," he said.