SAD 4 planning for lights and refurbished track at athletic field

GUILFORD — Thanks to the generosity of Herring Brothers Meats and Gordon Contracting, the Piscataquis Community High School track will have lights and a repaved running area. Now a fundraising effort will start for the monies needed to rubberize the track, which circles the soccer field, to make the surface suitable for hosting competitions for the first time in years.

PCHS Athletic Director Joe Gallant, during a Feb. 9 school board meeting at Piscataquis Community Elementary School, said that discussions had begun several years prior about the possibility of installing lights at the soccer field. 

Trey Gilbert of Herring Brothers Meats in Guilford — a PCHS grad who coaches the Pirates boys soccer squad — wishes to donate 100 percent of the costs for a lighting system valued at about $50,000, Gallant said.

Gallant said that Gordon Contracting of Sangerville President/CEO Brian Howard, who also is a PCHS graduate, offered to donate all the materials and labor needed to resurface the track. Gallant gave an $85,000 estimate for this project. Gordon Contracting would also work on the soccer field to help alleviate some drainage issues.

The current asphalt track was installed in 1996 and work was done to make the surface safer, such as for when soccer players are running toward the pitch on a throw-in.

 “With approval I would like to start a fundraiser of businesses to rubberize the track,” Gallant said. He said the cost to install the outer layer material would be approximately $103,000 and it would have a 20-year lifespan.

“I’m real confident there’s businesses around the community that will donate to get that track up and running,” Gallant said. He said the proposed project would have six lanes around the entire 400 meters. The track would probably not be used for postseason meets, as eight lanes are needed for the 100 meters and high hurdle events.

Superintendent Kelly MacFadyen said it is important donors be made aware that SAD 4 is pursuing a comprehensive regional high school with SAD 46 and 41.

“The track facility would be an asset even with the comprehensive school,” Gallant responded. “The athletic facilities, I would be shocked if they’re ready when the doors open up,” he said, saying for other new schools in the state the playing fields are completed up to several years after classes start.

Gallant said the track and lights could help attract students to SAD 4 who may go elsewhere. He said track meets would draw several hundred people to town counting athletes, coaches and spectators.

MacFadyen asked about yearly maintenance costs for a new track, and Gallant said there would be none. He said the only issue would be ensuring athletes have the proper spikes for competition.

“You still have other events other than track you will use the lights for,” MacFadyen said. Gallant mentioned field hockey could have illuminated evening games at the field.

“It’s still a community facility,” PCHS Principal John Keane said, and this could remain as such even if a regional high school opens its doors later in the decade. 

While the comprehensive high school project still needs to go through a number of steps to come to fruition — including formal votes of residents — Keane said the prospect of losing the community of a smaller school could derail the project. He said the lights and new track could be a way to maintain some sense of community. While such a decision is years away, the PCHS track could be used by the team at the comprehensive high school.

Gallant said for the 2018 PCHS Homecoming portable lights were set up as the PCHS boys hosted Greenville. He said despite Greenville being the smallest school in the region, about 300 people watched the game.

In his report, Keane wrote that Herring Brothers Meats has also donated $7,000 to equip the PCHS esports team with all the necessary equipment. This includes 12 computer stations and accessories for a gaming station. The esports season starts Feb. 15.

“[Regarding] budget development, all the department heads have gotten their information to us and [Finance Director Marion Huntley] is entering that and getting it ready for the first budget committee meeting,” MacFadyen said in her report. The  committee is set to meet at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 24.

In her report the superintendent wrote that the preliminary information from the Maine Department of Education has SAD 4’s 2021-22 state subsidy down by $8,620. The current budget has a little more than $2.6 million allocated from the state as part of the nearly $7.4 million total.

PCES Principal Anita Wright wrote in her report that two annual events will be modified in 2021.

She said the school wants to recognize Masons from Mount Kineo Lodge in Guilford and Abner Wade Lodge in Sangerville who will still be kicking off the reading initiative Books for Bikes. Each student, in-person and remote, will be asked to read as many books as possible through April 14. For each book a child reads, they complete an entry ticket with the title and a brief description. Tickets are put in a box for a chance to win a new bike, and these will be awarded on Friday, April 16. Due to COVID safety restrictions, the Shriners will not be joining nor will there be an assembly. Instead names will be drawn in the office with winners announced over the intercom.

Wright said the Arts Alive team is planning for a modified event, as due to CDC guidelines, PCES is unable to have community volunteers join this year. “At this time, we are planning on having a smaller version of Arts Alive for our in-person students and staff,” she wrote. “We look forward to having our traditional Arts Alive in 2022.”