With many indoor school sports seasons taking place at the same time, along with other extracurriculars, MHS is in need of better facilities—more specifically, a second gym.
The large gym serves many different sports teams. The basketball, badminton, and wrestling teams use it for practice and for home games. Since many sports seasons overlap, especially due to extended seasons, if teams advance into the playoffs, teams have to sort out when they get to practice in the gym, which often results in outrageous practice times for student-athletes. For instance, badminton practices have gone as late as 10:30 pm in order to accomodate for other sports teams in the gym, and boys basketball had to hold morning practices early before school. Additionally, the boys volleyball must hold practices off-campus at Thomas Russell Middle School and Robert Randall Elementary School.
Practicing in middle school and elementary school gyms isn’t the same as practicing in our regular gym where home games happen, which could have adverse effects on players on game days. Getting home late and consequently going to bed later due to later practices leaves students tired and struggling through unhealthy schedules, especially burdened by large workloads and other commitments.
Despite the struggles that students are having, MUSD is allocating a substantial amount of funding to facilities outside of MHS’s main campus, such as the Innovation Campus, taking away funding for other projects, such as a second gym. The grant that is funding the Innovation Campus and other school projects such as the Performing Arts Center is Bond Measure AA, according to the MUSD website. Bond measure AA was initially supposed to fund the second gym. However, due to increased construction costs on other projects, there was not enough funding for the second gym, said Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Wendy Zhang at the Feb. 12 MUSD board meeting. There is currently $6 million available for the second gym, but the total project requires $10-15 million, Zhang added.
We highly encourage the district to look into solutions such as grants to fund construction of a second gym. Similar to how the district is reaching out to government officials for funding for the Innovation Campus, the district should also reach out to other officials that would be willing to support our student-athletes and contribute to a second gym. With a second gym, practice times for sports would be more reasonable, and there would be overall better accommodations for our students.
While we understand that making funding allocation decisions is difficult and that plans for funding allocation were disrupted by COVID-19, the district needs to seek more community input on what the grant money is being used for. Due to money being directed towards the campus extension, essential facilities like a second gym are being sacrificed, which is harming students and athletes alike since the lack of availability is leading to unhealthy schedules for practices.
We understand that building a second gym would not be a quick project; however, it is imperative that the district communicates what grants are being used for so that students and staff can provide input on what is most important for our schools to spend money on. A second gym is important for the well-being of MHS’ student athletes and would benefit the entire student population, by providing another venue for the various events that take place on our own campus.
