Jackson aldermen explore school district acquiring streets near football field

Jackson’s mayor and aldermen met with Keenan Kinder, assistant superintendent of safety and district operations for the Jackson School District, during their Monday, March 3, meeting.

Kinder said he was looking at improving safety around the high school campus, and one suggestion was for the city to abandon the intersection of West Madison Street and South Oklahoma Street at the high school’s football stadium.

“We’re constantly looking at safety. We want to provide the best environment we can,” he said.

Kinder aims to have enough space to install metal detectors and create points to funnel spectators into the stadium for games. The district had previously used metal detectors for junior high school events and music concerts.

“Currently we have to have soft closures for home football games, then for our Spring Fever Reliever we do a total closure where we have to have a special closure,” he said. “… What we’re trying to do is create a situation where the overall climate of our events doesn’t look any different for our kids.”

Kinder said the city ceding the blocks to the school district would make it safer for students to exit the high school during school days, too.

“We have a really wide crosswalk painted here, like the widest one possible, but once the kids come to this point, they’re like a covey of quail dispersing — wherever you can go, as fast as you can get there,” he said.

Several aldermen wanted to learn more about the proposed plans and how they would handle bussing and pedestrian crossing. Jackson Mayor Dwain Hahs said he was worried about losing that street.

“I’m assuming this won’t be heavy traffic, but there is traffic and you don’t want people to get frustrated if they can’t get around our town,” Hahs said.

Janet Sanders, the city’s Public Works director, said the adjacent parking lot was built as a parking lot and wouldn’t hold up as well as a street. Kinder said the district did not plan to close the parking lot.

Kinder suggested a memorandum of understanding would be appropriate for the district’s needs. Easements would be retained to give the city access to utilities.

Other business

The aldermen extended a pair of contracts. They extended a contract with Fronabarger Concreters of Oak Ridge for a North Park infrastructure project by 54 days. They also extended a contract with Putz Construction of Millersville for a park pavilion replacement by 60 days.