Cleveland High students, parents call for upgrades to sports field at SE Portland school

PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) - Students and parents rallied outside of Cleveland High School in southeast Portland Saturday morning and called for upgrades to the school's sports facilities.

Student-athletes are currently using the grass field located across the street at Powell Park.

"We really just want to be able to practice like they can practice so that we can represent Cleveland the way that we want to," said Kailen Steffek, a junior at CHS.

Other schools in the Portland Public Schools district have access to multiple turf fields on their own campuses. Students and parents would like to see a similar layout at CHS.

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Students and parents also told FOX 12 that they want to see the grass field at Powell Park replaced with turf to make it more accessible.

Parents also have other safety concerns. One parent said students have had to deal with homeless community members camping inside the equipment storage shed, finding needles and broken glass in the dugouts, unsanitary bathroom conditions and even theft and vandalism.

"I've had to replace the locks at least twice last year," said Tony, who has a son on the baseball team. "People came in and just busted the door down and stole the equipment inside. They stole the generator, they stole some baseball equipment, they graffitied things so we had to repaint it."

During the rainy season, the baseball field becomes completely unusable.

"It's wet, it's mushy, there's mud everywhere," Tony said. "If we play on it when it's wet, it destroys the field and we can't play on it when it's dry. We have to be aware of that, we can't practice as much as we want."

The softball team has it even worse. The team has to commute to the field at Woodstock Park for practices and games, which is three miles away from the high school.

"Half of our team can't drive because they're too young, so having a field that's close would be so much better accessibility-wise," said Abby Pattison, a junior at CHS.

Parents and students have been calling for change for years. Now, with CHS planning to make upgrades to the campus, parents say they want to see a new turf field at Powell Park included in the design plans.

"Right now is the time for Cleveland because this is part of the modernization plan," said Liz Super, a CHS parent. "Although, initially it was put in the plan and now it's been taken out and put on Portland Parks' agenda."

FOX 12 reached out to Portland Public Schools and Portland Parks & Recreation for an update on these plans but has not received a response.

In the meantime, parents said they feel like their children are unable to compete at their full potential.

"It really limits them and it's a real shame because they want to play more than they can," Tony said.