The school board will vote this evening, Dec. 9, on the ‘Paly Field Project,’ a remodel of Paly’s soccer, baseball, and softball fields as well as additions to the football field.

According to Principal Jacqueline McEvoy, although Paly renovated the football field recently, there are still some things left to be improved in its surrounding area. The track has to be resurfaced and new bleachers, restrooms, and a concession stand will also be added. These football facilities face the most wear during the football season.

“Real damage to the track happens during football games by gum, soda, or Cheetos, but gum is the real killer,” McEvoy said.

According to assistant principal Jerry Berkson, if approved, the soccer field will be called the El Camino Field, and will be redone with synthetic turf. Field lighting, a scoreboard, stairs to the elevated field, and bleachers would also be added to the field. Sophomore Chirag Krishna, the school board representative on the Associated Student Body, says the project will cost about $3.5 million.

According to Berkson, planning for the El Camino Field, which is planned to be “done and ready” by the beginning of next school year, is still in its preliminary stages.

The renovated El Camino field will be a useful addition to Paly in several ways.

“One of the main reasons to get the renovations done is that there are huge freshmen classes this year and next year, and we need somewhere for PE,” Berkson said.

The current field is also a safety hazard for athletes. In the first week of soccer tryouts alone there were three injuries due to the uneven field. Emily Brown, a freshman on the varsity soccer team, strongly supports the new turf field.

“Two weeks ago I sprained my ankle, all because of a pothole in the field,” Brown said. “It’s also so hard to play on that field because the ball moves so slowly. Also, for those with allergies and asthma like me, grass makes it much harder to run.”

The new fields may solve this problem.

“I think, first of all, a new field will prevent stupid injuries like Emily’s from happening,” junior varsity soccer player Maeve Stewart said. “Also, we will not have to share a field with the football teams.”

According to Stewart, the new fields would also make soccer a more important part of the Paly community. The added bleachers, lighting, and the fact that the team won’t have to play at Mayfield anymore would encourage a bigger turnout at games.

According to Krishna, the baseball field remodel will include new backstops, a netting system, outfield fencing, batting cages, scoreboards, and dugouts for the baseball and softball fields. Other improvements include new pathways, site furnishings, parking lot boundary improvements, landscaping, and irrigation. Krishna estimates this part of the plan will cost $4.3 million.

Junior baseball player Stephen Lim thinks the remodel will have only positive impacts on the team.

“I think the renovation will help because soccer won’t ruin the grass for the baseball and softball outfields,” Lim said. “It will also make it so that freshmen won’t have to put up with the annoying yellow part of the baseball field fence.”

Several athletes would love to see new turf on the baseball and softball fields, because the current terrain is problematic.

“The outfield in the baseball field is so dug up with tons of divots, and it gets really muddy when it rains,” Lim said.

Junior softball player Kristen Dauler agrees.

“For softball, it gets really muddy and our coach still makes us practice out on the field,” Dauler said. “We get really gross and it ends up tearing the grass even more. Turf would be fantastic.”

Unfortunately, current renovation plans for the baseball and softball fields only include converting the baseball infield to synthetic turf.

“If I could turf everything, I would, but the building of these would not come out of general fund,” McEvoy said. “Whether we can get all the money for this from the bond, we don’t know.”

According to MacEvoy, the question now is whether or not the school has the money to fund these costly ideas for renovation.

“We have Cadillac tastes on a Chevy budget,” McEvoy said.

Click here to view tentative reconstruction plans for the Paly fields.

Editor’s note: This version correctly credits assistant principal Jerry Berkson, not assistant principal Todd Feinberg, as the source of the statements above regarding the preliminary stages of the El Camino field planning and the necessity of renovation to benefit freshmen PE classes.