The Mingus Union High School Governing Board modified the school’s COVID-19 mitigation plan and reviewed its options for replacing the turf on the football field at its June 17 meeting.
Masks Optional
After some discussion, the board unanimously approved the recommended changes to the COVID-19 mitigation plan, including making masks optional, reducing physical distancing to 3 feet and offering guidance to those who have been vaccinated, allowing them to resume normal activities.
“Now that we’ve vaccinated large segments of the population, CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] has released guidance for folks who’ve been fully vaccinated, so we added that to the update,” Superintendent Mike Westcott said.
The board agreed on all changes except for the guidelines for vaccinated individuals.The CDC’s interim recommendations for vaccinated individuals allows them to resume normal activities without wearing a mask or physically distancing, resume traveling and no longer need to quarantine or get tested if they’ve been exposed to COVID, unless there are extenuating circumstances.
Board member Lori Drake disagreed with the section pertaining to vaccinated individuals in the updated mitigation plan, and made a motion to approve the plan without that portion about the vaccine.
“It’s not an FDA [Food and Drug Administration] approved thing,” she said. “This is just something that’s suggested. … I just don’t think that we should have the vaccination portion in there.”
Drake’s motion did not carry as there was no second by the rest of the board. The board then unanimously voted to approve the updated plan as originally presented.
New Turf Options
After performing two tests on the existing field and deeming it unsafe to play football on, the school is looking to replace the turf before the fall.
After receiving four quotes for new turf for the football field, the school settled on Shaw Sports Turf. Westcott said Shaw offered the least expensive option, offered the same warranty and has been used by a large number of high schools, colleges and even the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Athletic Director Yancey DeVore presented the council with three design renderings ranging from about $500,000 to $530,000.
The first rendering, and the most expensive, included the school’s marauder mascot on the center of the field. The second option, the least costly of the three, is similar to what the school has now but with alternating shades of green every 5 yards. The third option is also similar to the current field, but includes gray yard lines and a gray stripe down the middle.
“This field is going to look like one of the best fields in the state with any field that we go with,” Yancey said.
The school closed the field after two Gmax tests, in which a 20-pound missile is dropped onto the turf from 24 inches above the field to simulate a head in a football helmet hitting the turf, determined that the turf is not safe to play on.
“A lot of concussions happen that way in the game of football,” Yancey said. “When it comes to safety of our students and athletes, we’re not going to ponder for a very long period of time whether we should act after getting a test result like that.”
The school is also looking into putting a pad underneath the turf, which has a 25-year warranty and could allow future turfs to last a year or two longer than their 10 to 12 year lifespan.
The turf company estimates that it can have the turf designed, produced and installed before the Marauders’ first football game Sept. 3.
