BERLIN – Stephen Decatur High School will soon have a turf field to match those in Pocomoke and Snow Hill.
At a meeting last week, the Worcester County Board of Education approved plans for the installation of a turf field at Stephen Decatur as well as a resurfacing of the existing track.
“Being a former principal of Stephen Decatur High School I’m excited to see this come to fruition,” Superintendent Lou Taylor said. “Then we have all three of our high schools with turf fields.”
Joe Price, the school system’s facilities planner, told the school board that the Worcester County Commissioners had approved $1.4 million in funding for the installation of a turf field at Decatur in December. Price said the design had since been completed and pricing had been negotiated through the Keystone Purchasing Network. The field will be completed by FieldTurf USA, the same company that installed the turf fields at Snow Hill and Pocomoke high schools. Including the $80,000 spent in design costs, the project will total $1,390,198.
Taylor told the board Price deserved credit for getting the project down to its current cost, as estimates had initially come in at $1.8 million.
“I’m not a construction guy but Joe worked with those who are working on that field and got it down $400,000 through his thinking out of the box,” Taylor said. “He will not tell you that but I want you to know that his job saved us $400,000.”
Price said FieldTurf USA had been willing to work with the school system.
“One of the reasons we got the number down is they are donating the cost of the striping for the football field, the soccer striping and the field hockey striping,” Price said. “It’s all donated.”
School system officials will meet with FieldTurf USA in late March or early April to confirm details of the project. A preliminary timeline sets the start of construction in mid-May with substantial completion of the project by Aug. 28.
