Track Use at KHS to Be Limited to Public This Fall

The track will be limited to the public and only available for use during the hours that school is not in session and students are not on the fields beginning this fall.

The unanimously agreed to restrict the hours Thursday after a discussion about the safety and security issues associated with having community residents on the track when students are near the facility.

"The hardest thing to change, of course, is something that's been going on for a period of time," Superintendent James Opiekun said.

According to Opiekun, the district has heard reports of an incident where an elderly woman was walking on the track with a walker and was knocked over by a student running past. Also a safety hazard, Opiekun said, is when mothers walk with their children in strollers during team practices, such as lacrosse, and hard balls are flying across the field at high speeds.

"We're getting to a point where I think it's become a safety and security issue for all parties involved-not just students," Opiekun said.

As for security, Opiekun said the district has no way of knowing who is on the track.

"At any point during the day, we can have people walk on to what's really a classroom and use that," he said.

There have been instances, Opiekun said, of people using the track during gym classes and the teachers asking the residents to avoid the track during the class. Opiekun said the teachers have received pushback from the residents not wanting to leave.

"It's disappointing to hear that, in the past, there have been people using the track who have not cooperated with the staff," said Board Member Keith Dama.

Dama agreed with Opiekun that something must be done, but he also said that the track is a valuable asset, and the only of its kind, in the community.

"We have a unique situation in town where there are no sidewalks and there are almost no roads where it's safe to jog and even walk," he said.

Dama suggested that the board come up with some type of schedule so that the public is aware of when they are able to use the track, but Opiekun said he would prefer to more generally state that the track is not available for use of the public during school hours or when students are near. Dama also said strollers, walkers and pets should not be allowed on the track, although Business Administrator Alice Robinson said she would be looking into whether the wheels actually do damage to the surface of the track.

Board Member Denise Hatch agreed that the security issue needs to be addressed, but also said she thought it would be difficult to develop a concrete schedule for when the public could and could not use the track because of athletic practices that are sometimes changed with short notice.

Board President Margaret Zybrick thought that the specificity of when the track is open to the public would be positive though.

"I think we need to come up with specific times when the track is open to the public and not," she said.

Board members were in agreement that the needs of the district must come first.

"We have a commitment to our children," said new Board Member "We have been accommodating to the public for so long."

Opiekun agreed and said that the board would be looking at sending out letters and possibly reaching out to the public through emails once they decide when the track will be available for use. He is hopeful that the board will be able to finalize the letter before school resumes.

"It's not that we don't want [them] to use it," he said. "We want [them] to use it safely and when it doesn't impact our educational program."