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 Orange High School (OHS). Coupled with the recent completion of the Steve Johnson Home Court Tennis Facility, Orange High will soon enjoy a wide array of on-site, top-notch athletic venues.
The modernized athletic fields feature environmentally-beneficial synthetic turf, all-weather rubberized tracks and other improvements. Student athletes used the former athletic fields for decades, and the old fields and the tracks at all three high schools were past their prime. The improvements 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,” Orange High School Principal Dennis Mc Cuistion. “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 closed in December 2018 for a complete rebuild to comply with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Orange High School utilizes the stadium for varsity football and other athletic events. The renovation of OHS facilities will allow a full complement of sporting events to take place on the Panthers’ home turf for the first time in decades.
The high school athletic field renovations are utilizing 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, the OHS Measure S projects are under currently construction. Together, the two separate projects will transform the Orange High School campus.
As of January 8, 2019, the football field, complete with school branded synthetic turf, has been completed and is now open to student use. The track and ADA accessible pathways are scheduled to be completed by September 2019 at which time the facility will be released for student athletic use and District-approved community events.
