North Attleboro HS wants to switch grass for turf

By Ana Bottary

abottary@abc6.com

@anabottary

North Attleboro High Schools Beaupre Field has been home to many generations of athletes, like Athletic Director Ken Kummer. He wants to see many more athletes in years to come utilize the field, which is just one of many reasons he wants the grass changed to turf.
 
"If we have turf we eliminate the over usage on our grass fields," says Kummer.
 
A local community group supporting the idea of turf believes it can benefit the entire community.
 
"It’s not just the high school, it’s the community and the youth groups that desperately need new fields," says Ken Nally, Vice President of NA Athletic Community Fund Inc.
 
Nally says Beaupre Field is not currently being utilized to it’s fullest.
 
A feasibility study that was done shows the grass field gets about 250 uses a year. If it was turf it would get more like 750 uses a year. The original plan called for two turf fields built over a five year period at a cost of 7.2 million dollars. That changed dramatically when they ran into trouble financially.

"It became $400,000 dollars a year which would make the project finish in 2032, so 17 years from now. What we’ve said is, can we do better?" says Kummer.

The schools are looking for $750,000 in the 2017 capital improvement budget to speed up Beaupre Field. Nally’s community group is also stepping up to help with the cost of bleacher repair, and lighting.

"We just feel it’s important to have a utilized field as opposed to a field that we only use about 50 times a year, if that," says Nally.

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