The proposed new backstop. (Photo property Coupeville School District)
The agenda for Thursday’s Coupeville School Board meeting includes a chance for the directors to approve the district beginning work on a project to build a much-larger backstop on the school’s softball field.
If approved, the $150,000 project on Terry Road would be financed through a previously passed levy which has already paid for new tennis courts to be built next to the CHS gym.
With the board considering the request, a family with longtime roots on the prairie has sent the following letter to directors, which they have agreed to let be shared here in full:
We are softball and baseball parents. We love to see the success and support in the community that the softball program has had, and we support the opportunity for them to have improved fields.
Our parents and grandparents were active supporters of Coupeville sports and showed this by attending games, supporting teams and providing the land that the baseball and softball fields are now located on.
They were also supporters of the vision of the Reserve to keep this specific land free of permanent structures that detract from the historic view — to keep it as it was.
This commitment cost them convenience and monetary expense over the years.
The understanding they always had was that the school district shared a commitment to this vision.
The promise from (former Superintendent) Suzanne Bond was that the sports complex would be built across the street from the Reserve.
We understand those promises may not have been binding — that leadership and priorities change.
We understand that putting this 28-foot backstop on the current location is understandably easier and less expensive than the original plan our family understood.
We also understand that this seems to have passed all the formal steps and that the Historical Preservation Committee didn’t see this as a violation of the historic vision.
We disagree and we are disappointed.
Unfortunately, at the time of the meeting last year where this was discussed, our dad was very sick, and we could not attend.
We grew up hearing about the historic preservation of the prairie and our grandparents were so proud that their grandchildren would see the prairie as their great grandparents did. This is not the case now.
The seventh generation of Coupeville residents will see an altered prairie viewshed.
We wish Coupeville schools the best, but we ask that you share this with the board and reconsider this course of action.
Go Wolves!
David Engle’s daughters
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