GREENSBORO, N.C. — Architects have recommended that the new Kiser Middle School be built on the site of the current baseball and softball fields at Grimsley High School.
During a Guilford County Board of Education retreat Saturday, representatives from Goode Van Slyke Architecture presented the board with four different site options for the new school. The company said the site on the Grimsley fields was the only feasible choice.
Grimsley community members have voiced their concerns about the new Kiser Middle being built on the fields. Some even started a petition to work to save the fields from construction.
According to the petition, the Young McCall Baseball Field is named after two people: Willie Young Sr., a Grimsley custodian and groundskeeper for more than 40 years, and Lewis McCall, who led the school to the state baseball championships in 1960 and ’64.
The petition states McCall coached baseball for eight seasons in the late 1950s and early ’60s and took Grimsley to four state championship games and 100 conference victories in 111 games.
"We are really fearful that and then not only could this potentially steer people away from coming and living in the Grimsley district and coming to this great school that has great history (but) if it’s too hard for them to be an athlete we are fearful that people will just choose not to be athletes because it’s too hard," said Brandy Adams, a Grimsley parent and president of the Grimsley Athletics Booster Club.
Adams said the construction could impact more than 200 students, including the baseball and softball teams along with the other teams that use the fields for practice. She said it could have a lasting effect on the community.
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Goode Van Slyke officials said construction on Kiser would begin in summer 2022, making the ball fields inaccessible. While architects have not been solicited to design new baseball fields yet, Good Van Slyke officials said there is room to put fields on the current site of Brooks Global Studies Magnet School, which is being torn down and rebuilt on the site of the old Craven Elementary School on Parkwood Drive. Those fields could potentially be finished by the spring of 2025. According to GCS Superintendent Dr. Sharon Contreras, there is money available for the new fields but the board would need to allocate it.
In the meantime, GCS officials said they are in conversation with Greensboro Parks and Recreation on a three-year shared used agreement to use city softball and baseball fields. Michelle Reed, GCS Chief Operations Officer, said they are making sure to think about transportation for students.
Voters approved a $300 million bond in 2020 that GCS is using to rebuild eight schools. In May 2022, voters will decide on a $1.7 billion bond for other improvements to schools across the district.