Wellington survey respondents overwhelming are against building new football facility at high school
by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — The Wellington community has spoken. By an overwhelming majority, the community said: “Not on my watch!” regarding the proposal to build a new football facility at the high school. The community is also against putting in artificial turf at Sellers Stadium. However, most agreed that money should be spent on outdoor facilities, and building locker rooms is a must.
The results were from a comprehensive Wellington Athletic Facilities survey conducted by the USD 353 school board. The online survey included several questions to Wellington community members about the facility’s location and whether or not to make it artificial turf, construct a bathroom/locker room/concession stands, and/or improve the track facility. The full Wellington Athletic Facility survey can be found here.
The survey, conducted through Strategic Envisioning, LLC, was in response to a proposal initiated by the school board last summer addressing the various future possibilities of outdoor facilities for the school district. The proposals can be found here.
There were 725 responses.
On the two main questions concerning whether to build at the high school or stay at Sellers Park the tabulations were as follows:
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The key findings relative to this question:
•80.4 percent expressed support for improving the current facility;
•69.2 percent indicated a level of opposition to moving the facility to the high school.
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As far as artificial turf regarding the football field:
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As far as locker rooms are concerned, the key findings were:
•89.4 percent of respondents were supportive of providing locker rooms near the football stadium;
•84.3 percent were supportive of improving the bleachers, press box, restrooms, entrance, and concessions at the current track;
•53.1 percent were supportive of expanding the facility seating.
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The surveyors also asked for comments. Of the 725 respondents, 52 had something to say about the proposed questions. Those comments are included in the survey from pages 28 to pages 47.
Dr. Shelby Kiblinger prepared the survey for Strategic Envisioning, LLC. According to the report, the survey was administered in an online format. It states:
“Advantages of this method are ease and affordability of administration. Limitations include the inability to provide all patrons the opportunity to take the survey, the possibility that persons may take the survey more than once, and the possibility that those patrons lacking access to or comfort with technology may choose not to participate.”
The breakdown of the ages of the respondents was:
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