S. Elgin stadium drive inspires Bartlett

South Elgin High School may not be the only school in the district that will soon have a new athletic stadium.

Inspired by the success of parents in South Elgin, the Bartlett High School boosters have revived an effort to get a stadium built at their 14-year-old building — the second newest in the district after South Elgin.

Bartlett Athletic Director Jeff Bral said two previous efforts to build at stadium in Bartlett were scuttled because of resistance from district officials. Now, though, the board and administration in Elgin Area School District U-46 are fully behind South Elgin's stadium campaign.

“We have a superintendent now that is open to that and a board that is open to that,” Bral said. He added: “South Elgin came along and did it the right way. That's what energized us ... the fact that South Elgin got the OK. South Elgin has given us that little, ‘Hey it's possible ... we can maybe do this.'”

The South Elgin Boosters announced late last year they had raised more than $500,000 — enough to build bleachers, turf and a walkway in time for the fall 2011 activities season.

The South Elgin stadium will cost an estimated $3.2 million and will be built in three phases with private donations. Bartlett parents are considering a similar construction and funding model, Bral said.

They estimate a Bartlett stadium would also cost $3.2 million. Phase one would install turf, phase two would erect bleachers and phase three would encompass the rest of the stadium, including the lights and press box, Bral said.

Like South Elgin parents, Bartlett supporters insist taxpayers won't have any skin in the game.

“We don't want it to come from the district and taxpayers, we want it to come from private donations,” Bral said.

If the campaigns in South Elgin and Bartlett are successful, Larkin High School would be the only U-46 high school without its own stadium.

Bartlett parents have not yet solicited donations, Bral said. Instead, they are waiting for the U-46 school board to approve new policies on naming rights and sponsorships — both potentially crucial to a fundraising drive.

Still, Bartlett Principal Kevin Skinkis is excited about the prospect of having a field where varsity athletes can at least practice — perhaps as soon as fall 2012.

“I think it gives something positive for the parents to focus on,” Skinkis said. “Anytime you can create a place where community members, students can go to make the high schools a part of the community is an important thing.”