The Walla Walla High School baseball team works out at the Murr Sports Complex in February 2023.

Walla Walla School Board members are putting together a community advisory committee after hearing a presentation from coaches and parents who said their athletic facilities are millions of dollars behind all other schools in the league.

The coaches told school board members at the Tuesday, March 21, meeting that it’s time for athletic facilities to receive updates, especially because classrooms and other academic settings have been updated through a 2018 bond of $65.62 million and $52.63 million in matching state funds.

“We’ve got great classrooms for the kids from 8 (a.m.) to 3 (p.m.),” said Athletics Director Chris Ferenz. “Athletics activities are an extension of the classroom. We want to take care of them from 3 (p.m.) to 8 (p.m.).”

Some issues coaches brought up included lack of locker rooms, inadequate lighting and facilities that are so outdated Walla Walla cannot host big sporting events. Tennis coach Bryan Eggart said the tennis team could not host district, regional and state games, while soccer coach Dana Evans said her team could not host playoff games.

“We do not have locker rooms; we do not have permanent restrooms,” Evans said. “This little porta-potty is our restroom. That is the only facility available to both teams, all spectators and the refs. It also doubles as our locker room.”

Evans also pointed out that all of the eight other schools in Walla Walla’s league, the Mid-Columbia Conference, which includes schools in Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Hermiston, have artificial turf fields, which Walla Walla does not have.

Track coach Eric Hisaw said the eight-year-old high school track was deteriorating and that one portion could be lifted off the ground because of runoff water from an adjacent parking lot.

“We’ve probably had more shin splints this year than the previous seven years combined,” Hisaw said. He also said Pioneer Middle School was still using a cinder track.

“I think we’re maybe the only middle/high school in the state of Washington that still is on cinders,” Hisaw said.

Several coaches mentioned that the outdated facilities also cause students to miss more class time than they should have to. Softball coach Arch McHie said that because of inadequate lighting, many games had to be scheduled early in the day, which cuts into class time.

McHie shared that softball and baseball players were missing a combined total of 103 days of school in just the spring semester.

“That’s insane,” he said. “We’ve got to have those kids in school. I had a student today — I was sharing these numbers with them — and she said, ‘No wonder I’m struggling right now. That explains it.’”

School board president Derek Sarley explained that funds from the 2018 bond had not been spent on athletics because of a promise the school district made to voters who approved the bond. He said the bond proposal originally included track improvements, but community members did not support it.

“At a certain point, you have to accept what your community tells you and you have to say, ‘Alright, we’re going to ask you to pass the bond and we’re not going to have any outdoor athletic facilities in it at all,’” Sarley said. “But that doesn’t change the need. And that’s what we’re going to do right now.”

Superintendent Wade Smith recommended the school board put together a community advisory committee to identify funding sources for upgrades to athletic facilities, which the school board agreed to.

He said the committee would be made up of stakeholders, parents, booster club members and past Wa-Hi graduates. The committee will identify improvements that should be made and possible funding sources.

“Our challenge now is finding ways to fund the necessary improvements for the near-1,000 current student athletes and participants per year who rely on these critical spaces,” Smith said.