Red Raiders baseball team wins quick OK for practice plan
The Red Raiders varsity baseball coach and players’ parents got a quick response from the Uniontown Area School Board when they asked to use the Wharton Township Park for practices and games. Facing a full house Monday at a special meeting and work session, the school board eventually voted 5-4 to allow the team to continue using the park in Farmington instead of moving their activities to Bailey Park in Uniontown.
“We love practicing and playing there. We nicknamed it Mountain High,” head coach Mark Edenfield said of the Farmington location.
“I ask the board to let Raider Pride prevail.”
Edenfield spoke on behalf of the crowd prior to the board’s vote, saying the Bailey Park field is too small for varsity level baseball. He said the Wharton Township Park has “major league dimensions.”
He said the team has used the Farmington field since 1998 and achieved playoff action twice in that time compared to no playoffs in the 27 years the team used Bailey Park. He attributed the team’s performance to the playing field.
Edenfield said the cost for transportation related to the baseball team and the Wharton Township Park was $2,000 last year. He said he has heard about plans for a new field for years that could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, but the team could stay in Farmington for many years at that cost. He also noted that the players help maintain the field.
Several parents added their pleas to Edenfield’s and Colleen Watson, who is affiliated with the recreation league at Bailey Park, also said the field is not suited to varsity play. Watson also pointed out the freshman and junior varsity teams use Bailey Park and the scheduling could be a problem with all three teams there, especially when one calls a rain day.
Marsha George read a letter from the Wharton Township Supervisors that stated the team may continue to use the park in Farmington.
Director Susan Clay made the motion to allow the team to use the mountain field. Joining Clay in voting yes were Directors Charles Castor, Nancy Herring, Ronald Machesky and Ken Meadows. The no votes came from Directors Tammy Boyle, Dorothy Grahek and William Rittehouse Jr. and President Harry “Dutch” Kaufman. There was some comment from Machesky that this should be an administrative, and not a school board, move. He also said he now holds the team to the field and they should use it for all of their events.
Kaufman said after the meeting that the school board at a November work session came to a consensus on using Bailey Park instead of the Wharton park but took no vote. He said the administration followed up on the board’s consensus. He said among the issues was the cost and liability for transportation.
In other matters, Mark Altman of Altman & Altman Architects gave the board members a handout on refurbishing the pool area at the high school.
Kaufman said the estimate for the proposed work was about $730,000. He said such items as heating, air conditioning, ventilation, plumbing and locker room improvements are included but the school board has yet to vote to proceed.
Altman in response to a question from Grahek, said the proposed project did not include clocks and scoreboards. Robert Smalley, director of buildings and grounds, said the project also did not include diving boards, one of which has already been replaced and the other has been ordered.
Parents voiced their concerns to the board last month about poor conditions in the pool area.
Also, the school board hired Jason Winfrey as head girls’ basketball coach for the 2003-2004 school year.
Winfrey was a volunteer assistant for the team but was placed into the head coach position in January for what remained of the season. The replacement came after school officials suspended head coach Annie Malkowiak and assistant coaches Lisa Nesser and Scott Van Sickle amid reports they admitted to drinking an alcoholic beverage each Dec. 31 while supervising the team as they prepared to return home from a tournament in Orlando, Fla.
The school board had started the meeting with a 45-minute executive session. Kaufman said the private meeting was called to consider extra duty and responsibility positions and the closings on the Jackson and Bryson properties the district is buying near the high school. Also discussed was the closing on the Iowa Street property the board is buying from the state for administration offices. They discussed a leasing agreement on the Iowa Street site. Kaufman said a lease may be necessary while Career Link continues to use the building and school officials prepare it for the district’s use.
Further, the school board approved a couple of make-up days this school year for snow cancellations.
They scheduled the make-up days as Monday, April 21 and Tuesday, May 20. They also listed a clerical day as a make-up day by adding 1.25 hours per day at the end of the last five full working days for the professional staff.
The parent/teacher conferences scheduled for April 9 will instead be held on April 16.
With the changes, the last day of school and graduation will be Monday, June 9.