Dragon Pride Booster Club asks Monroe SD 1J for help exploring $1.5 million track project

Representatives from the Dragon Pride Booster Club asked the Monroe SD 1J board on Monday night for help exploring options to repair or rebuild the district track after an Oregon grassroots grant did not fund the project.

During a presentation, a booster club representative said the group raised $1,500 at a recent auction and is seeking ways to partner with the district on preliminary steps, including obtaining more contractor bids and paying for a geotechnical survey. “At our auction, we did raise $1,500,” the presenter said. She added: “I know that the Geotech survey and track redesign is a massive, like, over 1000000 or $1,500,000. It was the estimate project.”

Board members and staff told the boosters they have received an initial quote from a track company and will pass that information along. A district staff member said the quoted work would likely be a limited resurfacing rather than a full excavation and rebuild, characterizing the vendor response as “relatively reasonable.”

Booster club leaders described ongoing fundraising efforts, including moving their auction to spring and running community bingo nights, and asked whether the district could help identify phased repairs or contribute to the geotechnical work that precedes major construction. The boosters also said they had been streamlining uniform purchases and other internal processes to stabilize fundraising needs.

District staff committed to follow up with the boosters over the coming days with the contractor information and next steps. No formal district commitment to fund the project was made during the meeting; boosters and board members discussed exploring smaller, phased repairs as an interim approach.

The board meeting moved next to facility and construction updates after the booster discussion.