Division I regional track finals
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Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
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Monday, March 24, 2008
Deal will bring $3 million in Welcome Stadium upgrades
Dayton Public Schools will announce a partnership Friday with the University of Dayton and Kettering Medical Center that will lead to more than $3 million in renovations for Welcome Stadium.
The final deal completes more than two years of talks with the UD about sharing resources to upgrade and make better use of the district-owned stadium.
City schools Superintendent Percy Mack said Kettering Medical Center, the district’s longtime sports medicine partner, will contribute $500,000 to replace the artificial turf on the football field with a new Field Turf synthetic surface.
The rest of the money came from state grants, which were added to the state budget with help from Ohio House Speaker Jon Husted, a former UD football player. About $1 million in state funds already was spent on interior repairs — seat replacements, new paint and asbestos and lead paint removal.
Another $1.6 million from the state will remake the exterior with a sleek design, Mack said.
UD and the school district will not jointly run the venue, an option they explored. Instead, they will have a joint marketing effort, seeking to bring high profile events to the stadium. UD will continue to play home football games at the site, while the district gets a discount for playing high school basketball games at UD Arena.
More details will be released in an 11 a.m. press conference at the stadium.
Welcome Stadium first opened in 1949 after years of private fund-raising efforts in the community, which paid for much of the cost of building it. The district owns the stadium and most of the parking lot that surrounds it and the University of Dayton Arena.
Permalink | Comments (19) | Post your comment | Categories: Dayton Public Schools, Sports and Athletics
Zelman taking shots from all sides
Zelman and Overbeck
In today’s DDN, Xenia Superintendent Randy Overbeck piles on with some new criticism of state Superintendent Susan Zelman for her decision to make a deep cut in Ohio’s Reading Recovery program. Overbeck says in an Op-ed piece that the program has demonstrated results.
Meanwhile, the DDN’s editorial board says Gov. Ted Strickland is like other governors in his desire to take control of K-12 education, but adds that Zelman may have earned special scorn from Strickland by essentially telling him to buzz off.
This, of course, is on the heels of Strickland’s pointed comments about Zelman over the past few weeks. It hasn’t been an easy year so far for Zelman. What can she do to turn things around?
Permalink | Comments (12) | Post your comment | Categories: Schools and Politics
