Modernizations at all four OUSD high schools create beautiful new, on-site athletic facilities for students and community.
ORANGE, CA (February 8, 2019) – In May 2018, the Orange Unified School District (OUSD) Board of Trustees unanimously approved the modernization of football and track facilities at Canyon High School (CHS). The facility upgrades will enhance public safety and ensure that Canyon athletes, students and community members will shortly enjoy world-class athletic resources.
The modernized athletic fields will feature the installation of environmentally-beneficial synthetic turf, all-weather rubberized tracks and other improvements. Student athletes have been using the existing athletic fields for decades and the conditions of both the fields and the tracks at all three high schools are past their prime. The improvements will provide students and the community with safer surfaces for athletic competition and recreational use, reduce day-to-day maintenance costs for the school district and weather-related “down time,” and eliminate the need for, as well as the cost and impacts associated with, irrigation and fertilization.
“We are extremely grateful that the District approved these new facilities for our students and community,” said Craig Abercrombie, Canyon High School’s Principal. “No more gopher holes, patchy grass or trip hazards on the fields and tracks. Our student-athletes deserve world-class facilities and our neighbors benefit with new community assets of which we can all be proud.”
Timing was essential for this series of facility improvements since Fred Kelly Stadium, located in Orange, closed in December 2018 for a complete rebuild to comply with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Canyon High School utilizes the stadium for varsity football and other athletic events. The renovation of CHS’ facilities will allow a full complement of sporting events to take place on Canyon’s home turf for the first time in decades. With more than half of the CHS student body participating in at least one of the school’s many athletic programs, the on-site upgrades are welcome news.
The high school athletic field renovations will utilize capital projects reserves that the district designated for this purpose and has been saving over the past decade. No “Measure S” school bond dollars, which were approved by voters in 2016, will be used for these projects. In conjunction with the sports facilities, Measure S projects are set to break ground on June 8th, 2019 and begin construction in late summer. Together, the two separate projects will transform the Canyon High School campus.
The athletic field renovations will take place in two stages. First will be the completion of the new synthetic track and field, complete with CHS branding, by spring 2019 for use by the school’s student-athletes. Stage two will see the completion of additional site work such as ADA accessible pathways and fencing. The District anticipates the entire project to be complete by September 2019. Once the entire project is completed, the field will be released for student athletic use and District-approved community events.
