Monroeville moving forward with new track

Jan. 13—MONROEVILLE — The Monroeville Local School District purchased a tract of land on Ohio 99 in 2004 with the vision that it might some day house an expanded facility for the students and community of Monroeville.

That day is finally coming to fruition.

The Monroeville Athletic Boosters have been fundraising and saving money for the last several years to jumpstart the project. Before the coronavirus pandemic in March of 2020, the school district and the boosters had begun some discussion about the possibility of putting a regulation-size track on that tract of land on 99.

Like many other things, though, COVID brought those discussions to a halt.

Until recently.

In the fall of 2021, the boosters and the board of education met to develop a partnership to make the project come to life. The district already owned the land, and there was a vested interest from the boosters and several community members in the track project.

The district applied for the use of some of the federal funds received from Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund for the project. The intention was that it will remain a public space to benefit the health and well-being of both the students and the community.

The Ohio Department of Education approved the district's request late last spring and planning began.

A committee took shape and began meeting several times a month to work on designing and planning the track, and to continue to move the project forward. It came with the added bonus of generous in-kind contributions of both work and resources to offset a large part of the expense from individuals and businesses in the community.

One business that came forward as a major partner in the project was Fisher-Titus Medical Center, pledging $250,000 to the project over the next five years. Fisher-Titus recognized this as an opportunity to be involved in promoting good health and a healthy lifestyle in the community as a partner in this project.

Monroeville has not hosted a track meet at its own school for nearly 30 years. The existing track is not regulation size, and takes a beating as the perimeter of the football practice field, resulting in ruts and bumps that take the right weather to alleviate come spring.

The new track facility promises a safe and regulation size space for athletes to practice, including space for field events and a building to serve as a concession stand, ticket booth, restrooms and storage.

Physical education classes will be able to utilize the facility during the day, as well as allowing space for the marching band and football team to have their own practice fields once the new field is seeded and has time to take root.

The track will also be open for the community to enjoy, providing a safe surface for walking and exercising.

There is still some work to be done, though, in meeting the $1.9 million goal set for the project's completion. The project is in need of about $375,000 to meet this goal.

Tax-deductible donations can be made via Venmo to @MonroevilleAthleticBoosters, mailed to the boosters at PO Box 661, Monroeville, Ohio 44847 (memo: Track), or by purchasing a commemorative engraved brick at fundraisingbrick.com/monroevilleschools.

You can also follow the project on Facebook (Monroeville Track Project).