Tear down the political wall of Sparta

We have an opportunity to make needed improvements to our athletic facilities with no additional taxes. The undeniable problems will not fix themselves, costing more to fix later. The wall of past rivalries, personal vendettas and political agendas cannot stand in the way of doing what is right for our public school children and our town. Five fields were lost to construction. A soccer field is now a DEP/EPA required Turtle Habitat. Two practice/phys ed fields and two softball fields cannot be rehabilitated because of new manhole covers and a parking lot covering the outfields and practice/phys ed fields. Physical education is required for all students. The new high school footprint has used up nearly all suitable land. Restrictions mean the best scenario for recovering lost facilities is installing a multi-purpose field, while using the site of the current track for softball. Because of the poor conditions of the track, our team cannot have a home meet, and are lucky to complete the season without injury. The swap of a track for softball fields just makes sense. What does not make sense are those who seek to block this opportunity to complete the Sparta High School project, just because they have past issues with our BOE. Hopefully, they can tear down this wall of politics and help us build the track & field for Sparta. Mark Hutchison Sparta