Parent tells Caledonia board middle-school tennis courts are unsafe, asks for repairs and funding plan
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Summary
At the Sept. 15 board meeting, Jennifer LaPorte, a parent of twins at Duncan Lake Middle School, urged the board to repair cracked courts, replace nets and provide porta-johns, citing recent district bond spending on other athletic facilities.
Jennifer LaPorte told the Caledonia Board of Education at its Sept. 15 meeting that the tennis courts at Duncan Lake Middle School are damaged and pose an injury risk to student athletes.
LaPorte, who identified herself as a parent of twins at Duncan Lake, said she inspected the middle school and high school courts and found significant cracks, weeds growing on the court surface and nets that were slack because anchors had pulled out. She brought printed photos to the meeting to demonstrate the damage.
"Court damage was not repaired properly. Now there are multiple significant size cracks as well as weeds directly on the court," LaPorte said. "Our players are at risk for injury." She said middle school teams continue to practice on the courts but matches have been moved to the high school.
LaPorte said she emailed the superintendent, athletic director and the Duncan Lake principal; she said "Mr. Abrams" forwarded her concerns to district leaders and acknowledged the condition as unacceptable, but she reported receiving no further communication. She asked the board to promptly allocate funds for repairs or at least produce a plan to address the problems.
LaPorte questioned the district's spending priorities after the recent bond, saying, "the community ... spent $6,500,000 on a football stadium, 1.4 on Scotland Yard turf replacement, 0.3 on band storage, and over $3,000,000 at the Calplex," and argued that basic repairs and nets would be inexpensive in comparison. She also asked for a seasonal porta-john near the courts, saying students are missing parts of practice to go to distant facilities.
LaPorte said the middle-school tennis program is a gateway to lifelong participation and asked board members to consider the repairs and to include her in planning.
Board members did not take immediate action on LaPorte's request during the meeting; no motion or vote on facility repairs was recorded in the transcript. The board's consent agenda and other business proceeded afterward.