Sevastopol Invites All to Celebrate Refurbished Stadium

Gibraltar asks community for more answers in survey

Sevastopol school leaders have planned more than two hours of activities to celebrate two years of construction around the stadium.

The fun will start at 5 pm on Friday, Sept. 30, prior to the Homecoming game against Suring. Brooke Tanck, Sevastopol Schools’ athletic director and gifted-and-talented coordinator, invites community members, parents and school supporters to a tailgate party with hot dogs and soft drinks served at the newly completed concession stand. Children can also enjoy the new playground between the school buildings and the stadium while a disc jockey plays music, and all are welcome to enjoy the traditional Homecoming bonfire.

The pep band will perform at 6:30 pm, and the district will have a formal dedication ceremony for Pioneer Stadium at 7 pm, prior to kickoff.

At halftime, the Mighty Pioneers Youth Sports organization will have a Chuck-a-Duck competition. Fans who buy a rubber duck will compete to see who can throw one of the toys closest to a target near the high-jump pit, with a chance of winning $100 from the duck-sales pot. Also, the Pioneer Booster Club will have its 50/50 drawing at halftime.

“We hope the weather’s great and we can have a great night to open this new facility,” Tanck said.

Miron Construction has the bulk of the work done in completing a $1 million building near the stadium entrance that houses the concession stand, an enclosed ticket booth, modern restrooms for the public, a private room for referees, and a small training room that will allow some privacy when trainers examine players for potential injuries. Also, the teams’ trainers can store supplies in the building near the west end zone, and Sevastopol trainer Jordan Dielmann won’t need to pull a wagon filled with medical gear up and down the sidelines.

The near-completion of the new building follows the previous summer’s installation of a rubberized track; a new, recrowned gridiron; and new fan seating that replaced condemned bleachers, as well as relocation of the discus and shot put area for safety reasons.

After the district completed Phase I of the stadium project, Therma-Tron-X (TTX) donated $500,000 to the district to pay the estimated $900,000-$1 million price tag for the Phase II concession-stand and restroom building. Tanck said TTX received naming rights for the stadium but decided against using the company name.

“They got naming rights, and they chose to call it Pioneer Stadium. They could have called it TTX Stadium,” Tanck said. “They’re a very gracious and humble group, and they wanted the attention to go to the athletes and not them.”

Gibraltar Schools Seek More Input from Community

Officials at Gibraltar Area Schools continue to look for ways to improve and meet expectations of parents and staff members.

This year, the district paid the School Perceptions firm to send out surveys and analyze community and staff responses to determine what the district would need from its next superintendent. This month, the district sent out another round of surveys to parents and staff members.

“This is more parent satisfaction: What are their top-four interest areas or concerns for the district?” said Brett Stousland, superintendent of Gibraltar Schools. “We want to get their feedback to help us define our steps forward.”

School Perceptions provided the district with access to all of its surveys, and the one the district distributed contained questions from various different surveys.

“We administer it and segregate it on our own,” Stousland said. “We’re just taking their questions and using their portal.”

If parents did not see the survey in their email, Stousland asks them to search for it and/or check spam folders. 

He said the district is also tracking how ninth-graders are adjusting to transitioning from middle school to high school because they spent most of their middle school years doing virtual learning because of COVID-19 safety protocols.