The school’s track and field should reopen to the public in about four weeks.

By Mary O’KEEFE

The Glendale Unified School District board of 2021 voted to approve in September 2021 the funding for improvements to the Crescenta Valley High School (CVHS) athletic field. 

Though it has been awhile the completion of the CVHS stadium is in sight. 

“The track should be open to the public in about four weeks,” said Miguel González, assistant principal. 

At press time the skeleton frame for the bleachers was in place as was the press box; however, the bench seats were not yet attached to the framework. 

Within two or three weeks from now representatives from Musco Sports Lighting, the vendor  for the project, will be at the school to turn on the lights for the first time. It is contractually required that the first lighting process be done by Musco representatives. 

The scoreboard will not be ready until April.

“We will still be able to play games, but we won’t have the scoreboard operational until about April,” González said. 

The school’s track and field has been closed since the beginning of construction in the 2023-24 school year. Construction teams ran into some issues concerning the foundation of the bleachers; things they expected at the location of the bleachers weren’t there, which delayed the project. 

The track has been a very popular place for the public to walk after school hours and into the evening. González said the track should be open in about four weeks to the public from Monday through Friday and will be closed at 9 p.m. It will be locked during the weekends and not available to the public because the school does not have staffing on Saturdays and Sundays that could open and lock the gates. However, if there are teams practicing during the weekend and the gate is open it would be left up to the coaches on the field to decide if they want to open to the public. The gate would be locked when the team is off the field. 

Once the bleacher seats are in place, the protective covering will be removed that has been placed on the track in the area of construction. 

This timeline is weather permitting, González added. 

When completed the stands should accommodate 1,750 people. The goal is to have CVHS home games played at their home field. Since CVHS was founded all the school’s home games have been played at the field at Glendale High School. 

González said temporary seating may be added by either renting or purchasing smaller sets of bleachers that could be placed on the end zones. That would add about 500 to 750 seats. 

The school is hoping to host its first football game against South Pasadena in August. 

Although the track and field may be open in about a month that does not mean construction will be completed; now it is the turn of the tennis courts for reconstruction. Resurfacing of the tennis courts will take a long time. Completion of construction on the tennis courts isn’t expected until the summer. 

González is aware of the concerns of neighbors regarding the new stadium seating. Prior to the board voting to approve the funding for the project in 2021, neighbors gathered to share their concerns that included lighting and parking. 

González added they will be doing some outreach to neighbors as the project reaches completion.