The message from the high school’s director of athletics was clear: BHS sports fields are overused, overwhelmed and need some help.

During a special presentation at the Jan. 18 School Committee meeting, BHS Director of Athletics George Finn and Town Council member Rob Humm explained the current condition of athletic fields and facilities and what has been recommended to address the deficiencies. 

The local officials said a synthetic turf field and a new track are needed.

The detailed delivery was appreciated by some members of the School Committee. TJ Peck said the condition of athletic fields was an important topic to consider, even though improvements to fields would not necessarily be eligible for reimbursement by the state department of education as part of the district’s current school construction plans. 

In the past, Peck has discussed the use of the district’s nearly $6 million capital reserve account to build better athletic facilities for local students.

Best program in the state

Finn opened the presentation with an overview of the athletics program at Barrington High School. He said hundreds of Barrington students — in some cases more than a third of the entire student enrollment at BHS — participate on teams that compete in the Rhode Island Interscholastic League each season:

• This fall nearly 400 student-athletes played on 16 different BHS teams.

• This winter, 362 student-athletes are playing on 14 different BHS teams.

• And last spring, nearly 450 student-athletes played on 17 BHS teams. 

Finn also detailed the success achieved by local teams, stating that Barrington High School is the top public school athletic program in the state. A slide-show shared a list of recent achievements by BHS teams: 

• Boys and girls cross country class champs.

• Football Division II and state champs.

• All 2023 fall sports tams made the postseason.

• Spring 2023: Track and field won division and class championships; and boys volleyball, boys tennis and golf all won division championships.

• Winter 2023: Boys and girls swimming won division and state championships, and boys basketball won a division championship.

The success of the program is not mirrored by the condition of the fields, however.  

Challenges

Finn told School Committee members that there are plenty of challenges facing the fields. For starters, they are all overused and never get a chance to rest. 

That point, highlighted in the presentation by Finn, is echoed by the consultant team at Traverse Landscape Architects — the town paid the firm $80,000 to complete a fields assessment. In a detailed report, Traverse officials point to the overuse of athletic fields as a key obstacle to better field conditions. 

Finn listed steps his department takes to try to keep the fields as playable as possible: When it rains, games are often postponed to protect or preserve the natural grass surface; he said he limits outside programs from using the high school fields; Finn also said he moves early season spring games to away venues.

The BHS Director of Athletics said the town’s Department of Public Works does its best to keep the fields in playing conditions but there is very little time to seed the fields or improve conditions. 

“These fields never have time to rest,” Finn told School Committee members. 

He added that the condition of the fields may look a little bit better than they were 25 years ago… “but they’re not good.”

Other school districts have solved the natural grass field challenges by installing synthetic turf fields. 

Finn said there are 29 school departments in Rhode Island that offer synthetic turf fields to their sports teams. He said there is one other district that is in the process of building a synthetic turf field.

Finn said BHS sports teams have to play their away games on synthetic turf fields, despite not having the opportunity to practice on them. That can result in a disadvantage for Eagles squads. The AD also said that some of Barrington’s teams will rent time on synthetic turf fields in neighboring towns to counter that challenge. 

Finn told School Committee members that the BHS coaches would like to be able to better prepare their teams for games on synthetic turf. 

The consultant hired by the town is also calling for the construction of synthetic turf fields in Barrington. Traverse officials stated in their final report that the town needs to build two synthetic turf fields, and specified that one of them be built at Victory Field at Barrington High School. 

Traverse’s recommendation is to rebuild Victory Field with synthetic turf at a wider scale, install a new eight-lane track, retrofit the light poles on the west side of the field and install two new light poles on the east side. The turf should be “environmentally sensitive to the area with an alternative infill and recyclable.” Traverse said the project would cost approximately $3.46 million.

Finn’s report also pointed to other athletic facilities at the high school that need immediate attention. He said the track was installed in 2003, resprayed in 2011, and “needs to be replaced.” Finn said he spoke with companies that could replace the track; he said cost estimates range from $400,000 to $450,000. 

Finn said the Barrington High School main gymnasium is starting to show its years. The gym floor was installed in 1955 when the school was built, he said. The last time the gym floor had a full-sand was in 1999, but there may not be enough wood left to complete another full-sand. Finn said there are dead spots on the gym floor. 

The bleachers date back to the 1980s and the main basketball backboards are original to the gym. 

Finn said the district has a good maintenance program, but said officials need to take a closer look at the issues he highlighted. 

In addition, there was also a brief discussion about the tennis courts located across from the high school. Officials have scheduled the courts to be resurfaced this summer. 

Finn said a number of BHS sports teams have to use facilities off-campus to practice and compete. He said the swim teams are lucky to have access to the Bayside Family YMCA’s pool, which is located on West Street in Barrington. The hockey teams utilize rinks in Portsmouth, Providence and Pawtucket — team members fund-raiser to pay for the busing to and from the rinks. The gymnastics team uses Prestige in Swansea, Mass.; the field hockey, soccer and lacrosse teams have traveled off-site to use synthetic turf; and the golf team plays at Rhode Island Country Club. 

Councilor’s comments

Barrington Council member Rob Humm told School Committee members the Council is addressing the fields through a three-pronged approach: officials are looking at field maintenance, synthetic turf fields, and an indoor field house. 

Humm said the problems with Barrington’s athletic fields are well-documented — he referenced reports from the 1980s, 2001, 2014, and 2021 that all identified the same issues — but not much has been done to address them. 

Humm said data shows that Barrington has not invested enough in recreation. 

Humm said he was pleased to learn that the school construction plans include new gym space in the elementary schools. He told Committee members they were welcome to contact the town’s consultants. 

Humm also said some of the fields in Barrington are controlled by the town, some are controlled by the school department, but at the end of the day, people do not care who controls the fields. They just want high quality fields to use. 

He said many other communities and area colleges endorse the use of synthetic turf.

And finally Humm told Committee members that at the Feb. 5 Council meeting, he planned to submit a proposal for improving the fields. 

School Committee Chairman Patrick McCrann thanked Finn and Humm for their presentation, and Peck said he wanted to continue the discussion in the near future.