Southington High's Track To Get Major Rebuild: BoE

SOUTHINGTON, CT — Plans to resurface the worn-out running track at Southington High School have been resurrected following a state grant and local school board action this month.

The Southington Board of Education voted unanimously on Oct. 12 to reallocate $206,000 within its coffers to help fund the track resurfacing project at Southington High.

The track surrounds the school's artificial turf football/athletic field at the school.

Nearly a year ago, Southington voters said "no" at the polls to a $16.9 million expenditure for a massive Southington High School athletic facility renovation and rebuild, one that included a new SHS track.

The money to do the rebuild, according to Southington Superintendent of Schools Steven Madancy, is from a $500,000 state Small Town Economic Assistance Program grant and Southington's required $206,000 match.

"The STEAP grant, as it's called, is a town-administered grant. However part of the stipulation of the grant is that a community that applies for it has to put up a percentage of funds," Madancy said. "Our share of the funds in Southington is $206,000."

Madancy said the project wouldn't start until June 2024 and it would be completed by August 2024.

The school chief said, after speaking with Southington High's athletic director, the timeline works best because school is out and the sports teams that need access to it are not in action.

Madancy said while the best scenario would be to replace the track and the turf field at the same time, the field — which is only 12 years old — is in good shape and doesn't require a replacement.

He said the plans originally called for a 10-year replacement for the field, but the field conditions are still good.

Madancy said the track project will be a separate item and the eventual field replacement would be after the track is done.

He said, for example, M.T. Sheehan High School in Wallingford replaced its turf field after 20 years.

"We don't see any likelihood of needing to replace this turf during the summer," Madancy said.

Aside from some basic questions, school board members easily approved the fiscal reshuffling for the SHS track project.

For the minutes of the Oct. 12 Southington Board of Education meeting, click on this link.

From Nov. 8, 2022: 'Southington Election Results 2022: Vote Totals For All Races'

From Oct. 4: 'Southington Athletic Field Project Gets State Dollars'