A light pole at Blanchester High School’s Barbour Memorial Field were knocked down Tuesday by strong winds.
According to Blanchester Local Schools Supt. Dean Lynch, the pole fell onto fencing that surrounds the field and track. The pole, fence and lights on the pole were damaged.
“This won’t interrupt any spring sports whatsoever,” Lynch said. “What it does do, it puts us under a time crunch to get that pole replaced. There is a lot of preliminary work that needs to be done to set those poles.”
Lynch said the process to have a pole ready in time for the fall sports season when soccer and football use the field is two to three months.
“We had started the process (to replace the poles) last year,” Lynch said. “The pole falling just heightened that discussion even more.”
The fall sports season begins in August.
Lynch said a meeting of the school board’s finance committee is scheduled to discuss light repair and/or replacement.
Lynch added the district’s insurance company has been contacted to assess the damage.
There are seven light poles that surround the field. While the lights can be used for the upcoming Blanchester Invitational track and field meet that can last past daylight hours, the primary use for the lights is during the fall.
The light poles at Barbour Memorial Field were installed in 1969. The school district took out a loan of $10,000 to install lights and retired the note in 1974. The community contributed an additional $3,600 for the purchase of the poles, lights, scoreboard, press box and concession stand building.
