Soddy Daisy High School is the second largest high school in Hamilton County. We have begged for a running track for the past 25 years or more. The fact that the county commissioners want to approve $500,000 for a track at Central is an insult to our students and community as a whole. I have been told by HCDE board members and Hamilton County Commissioners on many occasions that money is not provided for athletic facilities.
There is no usable track at any school north of Red Bank High. RBHS is receiving $150,000 from the county to improve its track. Only a few years ago, Red Bank was given a new track. I have inspected the track at RBHS and compared it to ours at SDHS. It seems to be 1,000 percent superior to ours.
Let me list the schools that would benefit from a track at SDHS: Allen, Daisy, North Hamilton, Sale Creek Middle/High, Sequoyah, Soddy, Soddy Daisy Middle, McConnell, Loftis Middle, Ganns Middle Valley, Ivy Academy, and SDHS. These schools represent approximately 6,700 students and 16 percent (or one sixth) of Hamilton County's total enrollment. Yes, one track can benefit this many students. To me, this end of the county has suffered long enough.
I am urging my representatives, Randy Fairbanks and Rhonda Thurman, to work together to help our students.
Recently, I was elected to chair a non profit organization to benefit SDHS extracurricular activities at the school. It is called The SD Trojan Fund and is in the startup phase. We welcome interested alumni, parents, and businesses to donate. My email address is soddydaisy1972@gmail.com if you would like more information.
Steve Slater, Chairman SD Trojan Fund
Soddy Daisy
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Unfortunately I would not count on Randy Fairbanks and Rhonda Thurman to help out on this. The Hamilton County Superintendent Sweepstakes 2017 is expected to take the most of the year. If anything, after installation of the 2017 winner, and most of 2018 learning the job and dodging scandals, it will be 2019 before it might get addressed.
But I must say that one part of track destruction lies within unrestrained, and careless people. I can't count the number of times at football season I've seen cars, trucks, or God bless....an ambulance parked on the track. That sort of weight crumbles the specialized asphalt. Also weekend bike riders, rollerbladers, skateboards, dog walkers, and ball dribblers don't help it either.
To save the tracks, they should only be used by students. Period.
Billy Tomas