Renovations spark concern with locals
Coppell Middle School East makes renovations to their football field adding turf, a new track and new goal posts. East is the last Middle School to get a new field is now able to hosts football games, as well as other sporting events. Photo by Rylee Ferguson
February 26, 2018
Waking up at 5:45 a.m., getting to school by 6:15 a.m., squeezing on shoulder pads and padded pants, stuffing feet into cleats, all half asleep. This is what many middle school football players encounter on a daily basis. However, at Coppell Middle School East, the 7th graders who practice in those dark mornings have not been able to begin their practice until close to 7:00 a.m.; almost 30 minutes later than the other two middle schools in Coppell.
This is due to the lack of a stadium in and around the CMS East sports competition field. In an effort to fix this problem, the Coppell ISD Bond Oversight Committee elected that as a part of the $249 million bond, CMS East would get lighting, bleachers, bathrooms, and other amenities. Recently, however, many citizens who live around the CMS East have spoken out against this bond, saying that the bright stadium lights and loud noises will disrupt their everyday living.
In an effort to relieve that concern, the City of Coppell in conjunction with Coppell ISD, has held multiple meetings and informational sessions for people to be informed of the changes being made. In addition, at the last Coppell City Council meeting, citizens were invited to head up to the podium to voice their opinions and concerns about the renovations.
Despite the pushback, many people are supportive of the renovations being done.
“In the district that [Coppell] is in, each school has to have two competition gyms in order to play sports like basketball and volleyball and right now, we don’t have that,” CMS East principal Laura Springer said. “With the new renovations, we will finally be able to compete at the level of the other schools in our district.”
Sports field and gym renovations are not the only part of the plan. In addition, classrooms, science labs and other internal renovations will be made.
“[CMS East] has grown to the point where there are about six teachers who don’t even have their own room. Our teachers need to be able to know that they have a home,” Springer said.
The public blueprints of the renovation plan show, to scale, the distances between the houses of the neighborhood, the CMS East building and the sports field. In order to relieve the concerns of citizens, Coppell ISD has done an extensive study of the effects of commercial-grade sound and lighting and have made claims about the overflow of each.
“At the CMS East property line, the residents of neighboring houses will hear sounds no greater than 50 decibels and lighting will be minimal enough to not bother anyone inside their own house,” assistant superintendent Sid Grant said.
In addition, the citizens were told that events would last no later than 9:00 p.m. on any given night. However, a concern then arises for some of the citizens: What about non-school events?
Every Saturday across the City of Coppell, youth sports are played on a variety of fields at different locations. However, the East field has been said to only be used on Saturdays exclusively, with a strict policy against Sunday activities.
Coppell ISD completed Phase I of its renovation plan in the Fall of 2017, including the installment of artificial turf, new goalposts and resurfacing of the track. Phase II, including the construction of a press box, lighting systems and restroom facilities, will be completed in August of 2018.
For more extensive information, see the official Coppell ISD Field Renovation Fact Sheet or the CMSE Renovation Project Blueprints below.
