A Texas high school has its students’ safety in mind as it announced this week that the football stadium and track will be closed to the public on school days.
Midland High School announced the change this week after the school board approved the move. The track will still be open to the public on weekends or when the stadium is not in use.
“In today's day and age, we cannot allow public access to the campus while students are present,” wrote Blake Feldt, the school’s executive director of athletics in an email to the school district that was obtained by the Midland Reporter-Telegram. “To continue to allow people to come and go as they please while the facility is being used by children would be irresponsible of us as a district.”
James Dodson Stadium is currently used by nearby Houston Collegiate Prep Elementary uses for P.E., and Midland High School and San Jacinto Junior High use the fields for football, soccer, baseball and track. The district-owned facility also houses a training room and boys and girls dressing rooms
“We have students coming in and out of that facility all day,” Feldt said. “We are going to take the same security precautions there as we would with any other campus or school-owned facility.”
In years past, the Midland has had issues with debris and trash brought onto the field, broken athletic equipment, vandalism and homeless people found living underneath bleachers or in the press box.
The school district is in the process of securing the field and installing “no trespassing” signs around the facility.
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