Des Moines High School football

[theshadow]

5200 sigs to overturn, or 5200 sigs to consider overturning? That seems like a pretty low threshold to up & shut down an already approved item.

They need a number of signatures that is equal to or greater than 30% of the number who voted in the school election last November. That petition has to be submitted by June 2.

If a valid petition is submitted, the school board has the option to kill the resolution or to put it to a vote. If they choose election, the special election would most likely be Sept. 8.

 

[BryceC]

I'll be the first to admit, I don't get why people would be this adamant about it. Ankeny has two high schools now that share a field. The field isn't on the campus of either school. If anybody proposed a ton of money to be spent on a new field so they could each have their own it'd be a preposterous waste of money.

By those standards, DMPS spending 15 million on this seems pretty bizarre considering all of the schools currently have their own fields. Some of the fields aren't even that old based on this thread. Why do they need this, and how would the cost of maintaining the old fields compare to building the new one?

 

[NodawayRiverClone]

That is because of the formula within the 1 cents sells tax increase passed by each county. That money can only go to physical assists of the district or technology, and may NOT be used for salaries and such.
All these schools have for the most part built brand new building, so now they can use that money on sports facilities throughout their district.
The last thing they would want to do is not spend it, then people would start to get the idea that the school doesn't now need the money, the tax is repealed and the school is hurting down the road when it needs money again.

What I have heard is that rural schools have for years used the school building fund to build major, major upgrades to sports facilities, with maybe some academic stuff too. Locals like it because it increases pride and makes people believe the school will remain and the community won't die. Des Moines tries to update its facilities by consolidating and perhaps compete better with the suburbs, and some folks are aghast. I'm not in the school district, but it seems like a smart move for high school sports to have a newer facility that doesn't require several schools to compete for money.

 

[JP4CY]

I'll be the first to admit, I don't get why people would be this adamant about it. Ankeny has two high schools now that share a field. The field isn't on the campus of either school. If anybody proposed a ton of money to be spent on a new field so they could each have their own it'd be a preposterous waste of money.

By those standards, DMPS spending 15 million on this seems pretty bizarre considering all of the schools currently have their own fields. Some of the fields aren't even that old based on this thread. Why do they need this, and how would the cost of maintaining the old fields compare to building the new one?

I think both Ankeny schools might even have the same floorplan so design costs were a lot less when Centennial was a concept.

 

[Gunnerclone]

SIAP: but DSM is trying to become a hub for summer youth sports tournaments as well as bring in things like the US track trials. This isn’t just for the DMPS football teams. It also provides Drake with another facility for the relays. Everyone wins here and it’s like a fart in the wind as far as cost.

 

[Drew0311]

From the sounds of it the current stadiums will still exist for sports except varsity football. This makes zero sense to me. If you are going to still have to put money into the stadiums. Why give Drake 15 million to build a different stadium

 

[Remo Gaggi]

SIAP: but DSM is trying to become a hub for summer youth sports tournaments as well as bring in things like the US track trials. This isn’t just for the DMPS football teams. It also provides Drake with another facility for the relays. Everyone wins here and it’s like a fart in the wind as far as cost.

Agreed. It's a nothing burger.

Nice Shawshank reference there, Warden Norton.

 

[JP4CY]

SIAP: but DSM is trying to become a hub for summer youth sports tournaments as well as bring in things like the US track trials. This isn’t just for the DMPS football teams. It also provides Drake with another facility for the relays. Everyone wins here and it’s like a fart in the wind as far as cost.

Is there a track around this proposed field?
I actually thought a lot of the youth tournaments were a reason of the new proposed Kum and Go soccer field.

 

[SEIOWA CLONE]

What I have heard is that rural schools have for years used the school building fund to build major, major upgrades to sports facilities, with maybe some academic stuff too. Locals like it because it increases pride and makes people believe the school will remain and the community won't die. Des Moines tries to update its facilities by consolidating and perhaps compete better with the suburbs, and some folks are aghast. I'm not in the school district, but it seems like a smart move for high school sports to have a newer facility that doesn't require several schools to compete for money.

From what I have seen that is not true at all. You have to remember that the money originally went to only the county, this was before the state took it over. So when I went to Jordan Creek or Merle Hay and purchased stuff, this paid for the schools in the Des Moines area. That has changed now, but that was only after pretty much all the urban schools had built new buildings or remodeled what they had.

Many small schools are playing in gyms from the 50's or earlier, very few turf fields for football. Some schools used that money to go one on one for computers or chrome books. But rarely from what I have seen was it spent on sports facilities.

Don't get me wrong, I think this is a great decision by the Des Moines schools, but I am afraid they are fighting a losing battle, at least with football with the suburban schools. Des Moines would be better off running 2 or 3 programs instead of the current 5 they have. Merge, Roosevelt, North and Hoover with East and Lincoln for football only. That would allow them to get numbers closer to what the suburban schools have.

 

[Gunnerclone]

Agreed. It's a nothing burger.

Nice Shawshank reference there, Warden Norton.

r/unintentionalShawshank

 

[JP4CY]

From what I have seen that is not true at all. You have to remember that the money originally went to only the county, this was before the state took it over. So when I went to Jordan Creek or Merle Hay and purchased stuff, this paid for the schools in the Des Moines area. That has changed now, but that was only after pretty much all the urban schools had built new buildings or remodeled what they had.

Many small schools are playing in gyms from the 50's or earlier, very few turf fields for football. Some schools used that money to go one on one for computers or chrome books. But rarely from what I have seen was it spent on sports facilities.

Don't get me wrong, I think this is a great decision by the Des Moines schools, but I am afraid they are fighting a losing battle, at least with football with the suburban schools. Des Moines would be better off running 2 or 3 programs instead of the current 5 they have. Merge, Roosevelt, North and Hoover with East and Lincoln for football only. That would allow them to get numbers closer to what the suburban schools have.

Jordan Creek Mall is in Dallas County.

 

[SEIOWA CLONE]

Jordan Creek Mall is in Dallas County.

Which has Waukee, Urbandale, DCG and other schools that have all been building like heck.
My point is before the change, everyone that lived outside the DM area was paying for those school building projects, even though we were not sending our kids through any of those districts.
How many people were coming down to Corydon, Chariton, Albia, Bloomfield, Leon and other districts shopping, buying good that would in turn go to the local school? Few if any outsiders, but when I go to DM and the surrounding communities, I was paying extra for their schools.

The state opposed the change until those schools in urban areas had rebuilt their schools on those dollars, and then made it a statewide program. Again, favoring the urban districts over the smaller rural towns.

 

[danielyp29]

I think this makes more sense than Roosevelt renting Drake Stadium that seats 15k. Drake managing the stadium would mean they'll have to run the security and concessions, right? so from a logistics/volunteer coordinating standpoint it might be easier on the schools to let Drake manage them.

I wonder if Drake wants to have the stadium available for football practice and maybe as a backup for Men's Soccer in case Cownie Park gets closed due to heavy rains like we saw this past fall.

 

[ClonesFTW]

Now that I think about it, we never played a game on our high school campus. It had only a practice field. We shared a football field with another high school and it was located near their campus. Yet, we had great turnout and I always thought of it as our home stadium.

This sounds like my experience going to HS in Council Bluffs - including away games in Sioux City that were played at Morningside.

 

[theshadow]

I think this makes more sense than Roosevelt renting Drake Stadium that seats 15k. Drake managing the stadium would mean they'll have to run the security and concessions, right? so from a logistics/volunteer coordinating standpoint it might be easier on the schools to let Drake manage them.

I wonder if Drake wants to have the stadium available for football practice and maybe as a backup for Men's Soccer in case Cownie Park gets closed due to heavy rains like we saw this past fall.

https://www.dmschools.org/stadium/faq/

What will this mean for Des Moines Public Schools?
DMPS students deserve school facilities that are as good as any place in Iowa. This project will provide a first class venue to be used by all of our middle schools and high schools in Des Moines. The new stadium will be the home field for the Hoover, Lincoln, North and Roosevelt high school football (East will continue to use Williams Stadium in an agreement with Grand View University), and will be the competitive stadium for all five high school soccer programs. In addition, it will be available for a range of other high school activities, from marching band festivals to rugby matches. As middle school activities have expanded in Des Moines in recent years, the stadium will also be available for those schools’ football and soccer games.

What will this mean for Drake University?
The new stadium will provide the university with an on-campus home field for the Bulldogs men’s and women’s soccer teams, a priority for Drake athletics.

Who would be responsible for concessions?
For high school games, the high schools would handle concessions and receive all profits.

 

[CYEATHAWK]

I think it makes sense if the majority of schools DIDN'T already have a field.

 

[JP4CY]

I think it makes sense if the majority of schools DIDN'T already have a field.

Who knows what maintenance costs, ADA requirements, maintaining sod, etc are.

My parents live in a not very big town and their school removed the sod, and installed turf. They initially thought it was too fancy and unnecessary until it came out how now there is no mowing, watering, painting lines, etc, then they were all "yeah, that makes sense."

 

[CYEATHAWK]

Who knows what maintenance costs, ADA requirements, maintaining sod, etc are.

My parents live in a not very big town and their school removed the sod, and installed turf. They initially thought it was too fancy and unnecessary until it came out how now there is no mowing, watering, painting lines, etc, then they were all "yeah, that makes sense."

Okay. Then put down turf on all existing fields.

 

[JP4CY]

Okay. Then put down turf on all existing fields.

Yeah, I'm just spit balling with what some reasons may be.

 

[CYEATHAWK]

Yeah, I'm just spit balling with what some reasons may be.

I understand. But with all the up in arms about being competitive.......centralizing a field isn't the cure. Unless of course the goal IS to consolidate schools to where the DSM metro will only have two/three football teams. I think this might be the first sign that is their plan. In fact.....I am fairly certain of it.