School Board Approves Turf Softball Infield

PRAIRIE GROVE — Prairie Grove High School’s softball team will practice and play on an infield with artificial turf for its 2022-23 season.

Prairie Grove School Board on May 17 approved a proposal for the artificial softball infield for $160,325 with Geo Surfaces, Inc.

The playing infield will be a terra cotta color with green artificial turf outside the baselines for first and third base and green artificial turf installed just past the infield area.

Charlie and Billy Dawson with Geo Surfaces presented the plan to the board with Billy joking that the terra cotta color is “not Farmington red.”

The proposal is for the “full deal,” Charlie Dawson said, and includes preparing the surface, drainage and installing the turf.

Dawson said the softball artificial turf is not the same as artificial turf for a football field.

“This is a softball-specific play field design,” he said, adding, “Softball players don’t want to play on football turf. They want to play on softball specific turf.”

Dawson said his experience from other installations shows that the turf “will transform the program.”

The turf will have a structural base, a pad and then the artificial turf itself. It will take 20-30 days to install the turf from start to finish, according to Geo Surfaces.

Dawson said the turf will probably have to be replaced in 10 years, mainly because of damage from the sun, with the home plate area and the pitching lane requiring the most maintenance because of use. The two bottom levels should have a 25-year life span, he said.

Superintendent Reba Holmes thanked the school board for approving the proposal.

“This is the first step in that bite of what all we need to get done,”

Holmes said.

Pete Joenks, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, gave the school board an update on the Advanced Placement program and ACT test results.

Joenks said teachers and staff are finding that the covid-19 pandemic has hurt students because they’ve lost instructional time, and this is showing up in the ACT scores for the junior class, which took the test in February.

He said the district is discussing ACT review classes to help high school students prepare for the ACT test.

The number of students taking Advanced Placement courses is down somewhat for certain courses because students are taking concurrent classes that allow them to get high school credit and college credit at the same time, Joenks said.

The high school offers 16 AP courses, including biology, chemistry, physics, environmental science, statistics, art and design, music theory, U.S. government, English literature and English language.

Joenks said one concern that came out of a meeting with teachers and parents is that teachers have been assigning new material for students to study during their AMI ( alternative means of instruction) days at home. For the future, Joenks said, the district is asking teachers to focus on using AMI days for review and practice on material that has already been learned, not to introduce new material that may be hard to understand and confusing.

Joenks also reported the district will have five weeks of summer school for high school students who need to recover credit.

The board’s consent agenda had many personnel changes, including resignations, new hires and changes within.

The board accepted resignations that included: teachers, Matthew Kennedy, Deana Box; paraprofessionals, Pam Compton, Cassady Bradfield; and Rachel Holland, speech language pathologist.

The board approved hiring the following certified staff: Shannon Rutherford as middle school counselor; Lauren Marron as a math interventionist; elementary teachers Gabrielle Montgomery, Laura Brown, Kelsi Bartholomew; middle school teachers Zac Spilman, Alisha Elmore; Luke Humphrey as middle school assistant principal.

In addition, teacher Mandy Creech will move f rom the elementary school to the middle school teacher.

LYNN KUTTER ENTERPRISE-LEADER Reba Holmes (left photo), superintendent of Prairie Grove schools, presents Prairie Grove School Board member Shawn Shrum with a plaque in recognition of his 15 years serving on the board. Shrum did not run for re-election in the May 24 school election. Shrum’s last meeting was May 17.

STAFF PHOTO (Right photo) Prairie Grove School Board approved installing an artificial turf for the softball infield. This shows where the turf will go: a terracotta color turf for home plate and the infield and then a green turf around the infield.