Oxford High School will get bleachers this spring.
The Board of Education Tuesday approved signing a lease purchase agreement with Texas company Government Capital Corp. to buy three portable bleacher units for the district.
The bleachers will seat about 300 people, and will be transportable to other fields when permanent bleachers are eventually installed at the football field.
Board members called the approval “a baby step” toward a more permanent solution at the school, which has hosted games at the field for a year without seats.
Fans have had to bring lawn chairs, or stand, during football games at the high school.
“The first game I went to, I was amazed,” said George Temple, who has a son at the high school. He spoke in support of the lease agreement during public comment at Tuesday’s board meeting.
“It was an embarrassment,” Temple said. “It still is.”
Temple said when the school rented temporary bleachers for senior day, it made a difference.
“The kids were so excited about playing in front of people who were sitting down,” Temple told the board members. “These kids are very proud of playing for Oxford.”
The Lease Agreement
The board will enter a lease agreement that will allow Oxford to purchase the bleachers over the course of three years for a total of $24,979, according to board chairwoman Rose McKinnon.
The agreement has the town pay 10 percent upfront, and then make monthly payments of $726.
McKinnon said the bleachers will eventually bring back some money.
“We can offset the payment in next year’s budget by charging gate fees, because we will now have seating,” McKinnon said. “It’s less than $8,000 a year, and we are going to benefit from it in so many ways.”
Each bleacher section is 21 feet long, and has ten level rows. Elevated bleachers are not portable and cost more, according to board member Ted Oczkowski, who researched the options.
The agreement also provides four player benches, with backs, and two player benches without backs.
And the town will receive a kit to disassemble and transport the bleachers to other locations.
Only one board member —Lisa Hellauer — voted against the measure, after asking why the district didn’t attempt to get used bleachers from a school that was purchasing new bleachers. She also expressed concern that the people sitting in the back rows of the level bleachers would have trouble seeing the games.
McKinnon said the bleachers should be delivered to the district in time for softball and baseball season.
