North Kitsap Beat

Kingstonites brought their views directly to the school board Thursday night and the message was clear: We want to play our home varsity football games at home.

“Overwhelmingly, nobody wants to be here,” Kingston Athletic Boosters President Greg Wright told the board, citing the consensus from a recent meeting that I attended, and used to help write this story.

They’re lobbying for Saturday afternoon home games so they don’t need lights. (Which don’t exist there now.)

The issue stems from what some say is rumor, some say is fact, that the district was going to paint the stadium either neutral, or to reflect the colors of both North Kitsap and Kingston high schools.

Kingston parent and chamber director Jana Karmberger said most of the problems haven’t been with the kids, but the parents. Ultimately the issue could be resolved with a dose of parenting – from the school board.

“If you just lay out the rules, people will cooperate,” she said.

Later, sounding a bit parental, school board president Melanie Mohler laid out the board’s position by reading a statement. You can read the full text HERE. (PDF)

So, if everyone in Kingston wants to play home games in Kingston, they can have their way. But accommodations might be sparse.

“However, they do so with the understanding that no further plans will be made to enhance the District stadium to reflect multiple high school use AND there will be no additional funding from the Capital Projects budget for any “stadium” type item at Kingston High School. (i.e. no bleachers, no lights, no concession stand, no additional restrooms, etc.)”

It goes back to the 2001 bond that funded several school upgrades and the new high school. A stadium, or lights, were never in the plans for Kingston, and Mohler made clear it’s not the board’s intent to divert those dollars to Kingston stadium upgrades.

“There may be a time when a full stadium will be built for Kingston High School. But not with support from this Board and not with these Bond dollars. That’s for the voters to decide at a later date, perhaps within the upcoming levy or future bond. So, with that being said, let’s all redirect our focus to what we’re teaching our children and the academic success of ALL our students.”

Tags: Kingston, kingston high school, north kitsap high school, Poulsbo, stadium

This entry was posted on Friday, October 24th, 2008 at 5:06 pm by Derek Sheppard and is filed under Kingston, Poulsbo, Schools. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.