Stratford urged to minimize activity on field

By Casey Krautkramer

Stratford’s new grass football field at Tigers Stadium hasn’t looked as nice as people thought it would by now, considering it’s been two years since the new field and irrigation system were installed. It’s supposed to take between three to five years, however, for the grass roots to fully develop.

Nathan Lehman, Stratford schools superintendent, last Wednesday told the Stratford Board of Education at its meeting that there’s still promise for the grass field’s development, so he urged everyone to remain patient with the process.

Lehman recently met with Tyler Wesseldyk of Reinders, who assessed the grass football field and told him there’s still hope that the problem of the grass not fully growing throughout the field can still be fixed if it receives the proper nutrients. He recommended a fertilizer for Stratford to use on the grass, and he advised district staff to aerate, seed and fertilize, which has shown positive results so far.

Lehman also recently spoke to Eric J. Doherty, who is a consultant that has worked with many professional sports teams. He recommended that Stratford have less football games on the grass field this year because use of the field creates stress on the new grass.

Stratford’s 2022 varsity football team, which won the first of the last two straight WIAA Division 6 state championships, called itself “Road Warriors” because it played all of its home games on the artificial turf football field at Marshfield High School. Stratford’s grass football field had just been reseeded that summer. This year’s Stratford varsity football squad will be able to play on its home field like it did last year, but Lehman plans to have a discussion with athletic director Craig Mertens and the football coaches about limiting the amount of school teams who can play on the field this fall.

“We don’t have a finalized usage plan for the football field yet, but to reduce the stress of a younger grass field, we will make sure to have fewer events on it this fall with the goal of having all levels (of football teams) use it next year,” Lehman said.

Other business

■ The board originally planned to discuss and take possible action on board policy 3610, an administrative rule regarding guidelines for the selection of instructional materials. Board president Chris Dickinson said at the start of last Wednesday’s meeting that an item was removed from the original meeting agenda, but he did not identify the topic or explain why it was removed.

■ Board members Kyle Jochimsen and Kitty Guyer were excused from last Wednesday’s meeting.

■ Board members voted to approve the meeting’s consent agenda which included the renewal of the milk contract with Weber’s Farm Store in Marshfield for the 2024-25 school year. The board also approved the 2024-25 school year membership dues of $4,125 to the Wisconsin Association of School Boards.

■ The board’s regular monthly meetings are normally held at 6 p.m. on the third Wednesday of each month, but the next meeting was moved up to July 8, which is two weeks before the budget hearing and annual meeting on July 24. All future meetings will now be held in the library instead of the band room.

■ Lehman said there are 455 students signed up for summer school, which is an increase compared to 414 students last summer and 382 two summers ago.