EVERETT — The track at Cascade High School in Everett is part of Judy Sasges’ routine.
She jogs there at least three times a week, more in the summer, and sets a steady pace for three and half miles. She’s been doing it for 15 years.
“I came when it was the dirt track,” she said. “I use this track all the time and I support every school issue that comes on the ballot.”
On a sunny Monday evening, she did her laps while a group of teens tossed a football around in the middle of the bright red oval.
It’s easy to get onto the track and turf at the Cascade campus, Sasges said. She hopes that never changes.
“I would be so disappointed if the track was ever closed,” she said.
Less than five miles away, Everett High School’s Lincoln Field is locked tight when it’s not being used by students or sport teams. It’s been that way — a tall chainlink fence with padlocks on the gates — for months.
About a year ago, trash and vandalism caused the district to start keeping everyone out after school is done for the day, said Ysella Perez, the district’s community services supervisor. Graffiti was painted on walls, soccer goals were dented and unusable for games, and people brought in dogs they didn’t clean up after. Someone even set fire to a patch of the turf field.
“It would be wonderful if the field could be left unlocked for neighborhood use,” Perez said. “But the damage is very costly to maintain the facility to be a safe environment for the students.”
When bond measures go before voters, seeking millions of dollars to build or update athletic complexes, districts often sell voters on new features that can be used by everyone.
School districts around Snohomish County have a responsibility to protect tracks, tennis courts and practice fields from vandalism, graffiti or filth. However, locking out the problems also means locking out responsible users, many of whom pay taxes that build and maintain the campuses and equipment.
State law does not outline when districts can or cannot lock portions of their campuses, said Nathan Olson, a spokesman with the state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
“It’s left up to each district to determine that,” he said.
Across the county, written policies for public use of school space and equipment contain the same phrase, or some variation of it: the district believes “that public schools are owned and operated by and for the community” or are “public property.” It’s in the first sentence of policies for the Marysville, Edmonds, Stanwood, Arlington and Lakewood school districts.
“The public investment in school facilities and the general welfare of the community provide strong justification for the use of school buildings and grounds by community groups for cultural, civic, and recreational purposes,” according to the Snohomish School District’s policy.
Others are more cautious in their wording. The Granite Falls, Lake Stevens, Mukilteo, Darrington and Northshore school districts specifically state that their grounds are “primarily for public school purposes,” educational programs or specifically for children and youth in the district.
With 15 school districts in the county, there are at least 50 tracks, 35 tennis courts and more than 150 practice fields for baseball, softball, soccer and football.
At least a dozen of the tracks are locked after school hours and outside of sporting events, as are at least nine of the tennis courts, according to district officials.
Most of the playing fields remain open for public use via pedestrian gates, though the parking lots often are locked at night.
The county’s school districts have similar policies for groups using their athletic areas. People can reserve a field or court through the districts’ websites or at their offices. Rental fees and insurance requirements vary.
Outside of student use and reservations, schools differ on how they manage their sport courts.
Smaller districts, such as Lakewood, Granite Falls and Darrington, leave outdoor areas open to the community unless the campus itself is locked, usually late at night after custodians leave. Larger districts, including Everett, Mukilteo and Marysville, close things selectively, barring access to artificial turf while leaving grass fields open.
“There’s a certain amount of need to lock facilities to prevent vandalism,” Everett schools spokeswoman Mary Waggoner said. “The areas that we lock are the artificial fields. Pretty much our other fields are open for public use aside from when someone’s renting it.”
Marysville’s largest athletic complex, Quil Ceda Stadium, is gated and locked. However, the fields and courts at elementary and middle schools remain open for walk-in use, spokeswoman Jodi Runyon said.
“We obviously want to be very cognizant of security and access,” she said. “I think every school district has some issues with vandalism and destruction of outdoor facilities.”
Those issues are fresh in the minds of Snohomish School District officials.
In February, the dugouts at the Glacier Peak High School softball fields were torched. The arsonist, still at large, did an estimated $30,000 to $40,000 in damage.
It’s still the district’s practice to leave fields and courts unlocked, spokeswoman Kristin Foley said.
In Index, a grassy field outside the two-room elementary school was torn up by a four-wheeler a few years ago and, more recently, someone with a baseball bat destroyed a dog waste bag dispenser. There are no fences around the field, so it’s always open, spokeswoman Tracy Hale said.
That’s not the case in Stanwood, where the high school stadium and tennis courts are locked when not being used by students or sport teams.
“(Vandalism) was the driving factor to start locking the track and stadium tennis courts,” athletic director Tom Wilfong said.
The stadium’s press box was broken into and vandals damaged the locker rooms, track and equipment stored nearby. “The tennis courts were being used as a skateboard park and the courts and nets were being damaged,” Wilfong said.
At Monroe schools, the high school stadium is locked at 5 p.m. Other fields or courts get shut when there are specific problems, spokeswoman Rosemary O’Neil said. Usually, vandals hit areas that can’t be seen from the street, she said. When they hit one of the school’s athletic fields, officials lock it temporarily. “It’s not our preference to do that, but at some point the actions of a few change things for everyone,” she said.
There hasn’t been much destruction on campuses in Mukilteo, Arlington, Lake Stevens, Lakewood or Darrington, officials say. However, they know it could happen.
“If the desire to provide for our community leads to damage to our facilities or equipment, we would have to consider locking them,” Darrington superintendent Dave Holmer said. “Right now we just expect people to use common sense and respect our facility because it plays such an important role in our community.”
In Lakewood, the schools are the center of the community, facilities supervisor Devlin Piplic said. Like Darrington, the campus is open as much as possible, usually until about 10:30 p.m. each night.
The Lake Stevens School District keeps the tracks at Cavelero Mid-High and Lake Stevens High School locked, though people can purchase a $30 annual pass for the high school track.
The school district updated its policy last year and tried to strike a balance between protecting outdoor features and allowing people to use them, spokeswoman Jayme Taylor said. The pass lets them keep track of who is using the high school track in case of destruction, and provides some money for maintenance.
“We certainly aren’t in a money-making goal for that, we just want to have usable facilities,” Taylor said.
Most of the athletic areas stay open, she said. People use them nearly every day.
Gabriel Jarillo brings his children to the busy blue-and-green tennis courts at Lake Stevens High School at least twice a week, depending on the weather. Though Diego, 7, and Josie, 9, would be hard-pressed to get themselves over a tennis net that’s not much shorter than they are, they each can send the ball sailing over it with a confident crack of the racket. They’ve been practicing with their dad for two years. It’s a favorite family pastime on sunny winter days. In the summer, the place is packed.
Jarillo is grateful to have access to tennis courts near his home in Lake Stevens, but he doesn’t take it for granted. Vandalism or destruction could spark changes in district rules. At this point, though, it only seems fair to let people use the courts, tracks and fields, he said.
“We pay taxes for it, and we don’t cause any damage,” Jarillo said. “I understand in places where they have damage. It’s very sad for the community, but when there’s damage, they have to lock it down.”
Kari Bray: 425-339-3439; kbray@heraldnet.com
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