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ASHLAND HIGH SCHOOL Donors sought as field project deadline looms District must raise $1.2M by Oct. 15 to renovate field next summer Comment By Joe Zavala for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Joe Zavala for the Mail Tribune Posted Oct. 2, 2015 at 4:38 PM By Joe Zavala for the Mail Tribune Posted Oct. 2, 2015 at 4:38 PM » Social News On Oct. 15, the Ashland School District will either have the $1,225,000 it will take to finally resurface Walter A. Phillips Field with synthetic grass, or it will not. And Ashland Schools Foundation executive director Susan Bacon doesn’t even want to talk about what will happen if it does not. Six months after Kansas City Royals pitcher and Ashland High alum Jeremy Guthrie’s visit to AHS kicked off the fundraising campaign and about six weeks after engineers reported that the cost was much greater than anticipated, the district is scrambling to raise the difference before its self-imposed deadline. Guthrie’s initial $650,000 donation, combined with a $100,000 gift from Lithia Motors and a few other large contributions, pushed the district over its initial $850,000 target in early July, but ZCS Engineering’s report in early August revealed that extensive excavation would be necessary to complete the project. Construction costs also proved to be higher than originally estimated, bringing the price tag to $360,000 more than the district had raised as of last Friday. “That really is a pretty hard deadline in order to have the field built this next summer,” Bacon said. “The good bidding season is in January, February. In order for us to have all the architectural stuff done to go to bid, we need to have a decision made by Oct. 15. So that’s what’s pushing this particular deadline.” The district announced its final fundraising push at halftime of the Ashland High football game Sept. 18 and set up a booth at Phillips Field to accept donations. A handout at the booth included an artist's rendering of the proposed field, which is 65 yards wide and will include visitors’ bleachers. It also included a bullet-point list of reasons why the field is being refurbished, the first bullet noting that Ashland High is the only Class 5A or 6A school in Southern Oregon that does not have an artificial turf field. The Ashland Schools Foundation is the fiscal sponsor for the field project and the district has hired, through an anonymous donation, Lisa James of James Consulting to help spread the word and lock up donations. The district’s goal is to acquire the funds by the deadline, bid the project in January or February and break ground next summer in order to have the field ready for the 2016-17 fall sports season. Bacon believes the project has enough support in Ashland to reach its goal, but says the tight window it has to raise the money presents a challenge. “I think people can see the finish line basically, understanding the deadline has been pushed out from us because of the increasing costs of construction and the increasing amount of excavation and prep work that needs to be done that we weren’t quite counting on,” she said. "If we had six months ... I don’t have any doubt that we could get there. It’s this shortened deadline that’s putting the constriction on whether we can make it. "It’s unusual for us to say, ‘If there’s someone out there who wants to give a big donation contact us,’ because usually the onus is on us to contact them. But because the time is so short … we are asking them to, please, just let us know that they’re there and then we’ll take it from there and contact them and set up meetings and come to them with all the information.” The district’s original plans called for a field that was 120 yards long by 60 yards wide, but the Ashland soccer community lobbied for a wider field. Donations toward the field project can be made through the Ashland Schools Foundation at www.ashlandschoolsfoundation.org , or by mail to: ASF Turf Field Fund, 100 Walker Ave., Ashland OR 97520. Joe Zavala can be reached at 541-821-0829 or [email protected]. By Joe Zavala for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Joe Zavala for the Mail Tribune Posted Oct. 2, 2015 at 4:38 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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