Proposed tennis, basketball court upgrades attract interest
SHELBY -- Possible upgrades to city of Shelby park tennis courts, and possibly basketball courts, are being considered by Shelby’s Board of Park Commissioners.
They are interested in possibly pursuing state grant funding to help pay for the work that would be done to the courts, which are at Seltzer Park.
At their March 8 meeting, park board member Dave Downs noted that he had researched criteria for the grant should Shelby decide to apply for the funds that would supplement local money. Downs detailed the criteria involved with a grant program through the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
No decision was made, pending further research by Shelby Parks Superintendent Jerry Marshall, who plans to get updated price quotes involving the two tennis courts at Seltzer Park.
“They are in pretty bad shape,” Marshall said in an early 2020 interview, adding that the courts probably date back to the 1940s.
“Over the years, the drainage has kind of deteriorated so water was kind of laying under them,” Marshall said. “Asphalt, it will crack, and it is an asphalt base. To do it right, we probably need to strip the whole thing down to bare dirt and start over. That’s like a $100,000 project. We’re looking for grants for that. “
At the March 8 meeting, the price of $100,000 was mentioned based on a prior price estimate from about five years ago. But further discussion indicated that much lower estimates/ options, including $15,000, had been discussed in the past, too. The varying costs were attributed to a variety of factors such as the number of tennis court layers involved, the drainage system, the type of asphalt-mix and the overall extent of the work up to the top surface.
Also at the meeting, Park Board President Ed Ingle provided an update on efforts to locate a disc golf course in Shelby.
Shelby Finance Director Brian Crum has previously said the Shelby Park Board has $3,150 from the Shelby Cruise Foundation for the disc golf course.
On March 8, Ingle reported that as far as equipment pricing, the large-sized ninedisc golf targets for a 9-hole course are $2,925.
“Really, with the donation, we buy the targets, and then all we would have to do as a park board is labor and concrete to put it in,” he said.
Ingle continues to research
a possible foot-golf component to the course “so we can make it a dual fun” course.
This past fall, Superintendent Marshall said that Tucker Park was being eyed for the course should the Board of Park Commissioners decide to pursue the project.
Later in the year, Marshall named other parks, besides Tucker, as possibly being a home to the proposed course. They included Veterans and Seltzer.
No decision has been made about where to locate a Shelby course.
CDC’S community interventions task force.
While there is evidence of improved mental health and other benefits from in-person schooling, “we don’t really have the evidence that 6 feet is required in order to maintain low spread,” she said.
Also, younger children are less likely to get seriously ill from the coronavirus and don’t seem to spread it as much as adults do, and “that allows us that confidence that that 3 feet of physical distance is safe,” Massetti said.
The new guidance:
— Removes recommendations for plastic shields or other barriers between desks. “We don’t have a lot of evidence of their effectiveness” in preventing transmission, Massetti said.
— Advises at least 3 feet of space between desks in elementary schools, even in towns and cities where community spread is high, so long as students and teachers wear masks and take other precautions.
— Says spacing can also be 3 feet in middle and high schools, so long as there is not a high level of spread in the community. If there is, spacing should be at least 6 feet.
The CDC said 6 feet should still be maintained in common areas, such as school lobbies, and when masks can’t be worn, such as when eating.
Also, students should be kept 6 feet apart in situations where there are a lot of people talking,
“From what I’m hearing from other people is ‘Do what you can,’” Ingle said. “So (even if) it’s not regulation, do what you can so that the community can have some fun and get out there and get some exercise and enjoy it.”
A question was asked about dividing the course’s holes up among various Shelby parks.
“I don’t think we’d be interested in that,” Ingle said. “I would think people would want to go, play and leave instead of making it a progressive dinner.”
cheering or singing, all of which can expel droplets containing the coronavirus. That includes chorus practice, assemblies and sports events.
Teachers and other adults should continue to stay 6 feet from one another and from students, the CDC said.
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said the revised recommendations are an “evidencebased roadmap to help schools reopen safely, and remain open, for in-person instruction.”
“Safe in-person instruction gives our kids access to critical social and mental health services that prepare them for the future, in addition to the education they need to succeed,” she said in a statement.
Last year, the CDC advised that one way for schools to operate safely was by keeping children 6 feet apart, the same standard applied to workplaces and other settings.
In contrast, the World Health Organization suggested 1 meter — a little over 3 feet — was sufficient in schools. The American Academy of Pediatrics says desks should be 3 feet apart and “ideally” 6 feet.
The CDC guidance was problematic for many schools that traditionally had 25, 30 or more children per classroom in closely grouped desks. Some schools adopted complicated scheduling that might, for example, have half a class come to school on some days and the other half on other days.
The Ridley School District in suburban Philadelphia took steps like that to follow the 6-foot guideline after the CDC emphasized it last summer. But neighboring communities went with 3 feet, “and we’re not seeing the data really reflect a different spread rate,” said Lee Ann Wentzel, the district’s superintendent.
The district had already decided to shift to 3-foot distancing starting next month and invite all students to attend five days a week. But Wentzel said she was glad to hear of the change in CDC guidance because that will make it easier to explain and defend the district’s decision.
A recent study in Massachusetts looked at infections of students and staff members in schools that used the 3-foot standard and those that used the 6-foot one. It found no significant difference in infection rates.
Massetti said other research has also been influential, including two studies the CDC released Friday.
One was a study in Utah that found low coronavirus transmission rates among students who did a good job wearing masks and whose desks were only 3 feet apart. The other study, done in Missouri, pointed to a similar conclusion, Massetti said.
The guidance change comes at a time when new, more contagious variants of the coronavirus are increasingly spreading. That means a continued emphasis on mask wearing and other such measures, Massetti said.