Costs Force Dearborn Schools to Limit Court Time
Costs associated with general maintenance, wear from regular use and complaints about noise from some nearby residents has forced Dearborn schools to limit the number of tennis courts it now keeps open to the public.
Costs have forced Dearborn Schools to lock some of the tennis courts at Edsel, Fordson and Dearborn High's new courts, pictured here. Residents behind these courts have complained recently about noise.
The move has upset some residents who contend that as taxpayers they should have unfettered use of a school’s tennis facilities. We have received several emails from upset tennis players in recent weeks saying as much.
One such reader had this to say in an email to us:
“Either courts have been demolished, a la at Henry Ford and UM Dearborn, or they are all locked up at Dearborn High or at Ford Field. We pay our school taxes and are funding the new football stadium, which the jury is still out if it is completely necessary.
“They have built some lovely new courts at the high school, but no one can use them. What is going on here? Who do you have to know to get keys?”
With shrinking school budgets, school officials tell us they had to lock some tennis courts at Dearborn, Edsel and Fordson for simple cost reasons. They also wanted to be sure students had good surfaces to play on when the school year began.
If people are simply “hanging out” late into the night at the new courts behind Dearborn High, as some residents are complaining about, closing off some courts was the right move.
Now we know some will disagree but as a tennis player myself, the question I have is why some of our city parks don’t have more tennis courts. Our guess is that there simply isn’t the tennis traffic needed to warrant such a move. Another, no doubt, is the cost to maintain and keep the courts lighted at night.
This of course begs this question: if the hard-surface tennis courts are being closed for maintenance concerns and wear does that mean the new football fields with their fancy artificial field will also be closed to those hoping to play on when the football or soccer team isn’t using them?
Here are the new tennis court operations at Dearborn High School:
The (2) courts near Outer Drive to be open all of the time
The (3) courts in the back of the building to be opened as follows:
· From 7:30am – 3:30pm every day that the school building is open.
· For DHS tennis team use (practice and matches) – must be coach/staff supervised
· For all permit use (limited)
August 22nd, 2009 at 8:44 am
Crowely Pool/Park as some decent tennis courts along with some kind of inline skatin for hockey.
As a tennis player in high school, (different city tho) is courts would be trashed over the weekend from that problem, people just hanging out, sittin on the net. Trash left behind.
I think the courts for the high schools should be locked up.
August 22nd, 2009 at 9:16 am
Locking the new courts is the right thing to do. I’ve personally had to chase inline skaters, skateboarders, and people just hanging out off of Dearborn’s courts before. Nets would be torn or damaged, garbage left behind and even bleachers and garbage cans moved onto the courts.
These new courts are expensive and ideally should last a long time. They won’t, however, if people treat them like trash.
August 22nd, 2009 at 10:18 am
The football field, track and any other field that has a fence are locked to the public at Edsel and I assume at Fordson too. They have been since the new turf was installed. I’m sure they will be locked at Dearborn as well. Fencing things off in a way that they could be locked was planned from the beginning. Just wasn’t something that was publicized.
August 22nd, 2009 at 10:43 am
I think locking the courts is stupid. We play tennis at Dearborn High quite often and think it is great exercise. Locking the gates only moves the problems somewhere else. Let’ s start addressing the issues instead of locking up the symptoms. People who are hanging out and ruining things will just find something else to ruin. We wonder why obesity is such an epidemic. How silly this all is…
August 23rd, 2009 at 11:35 am
Deb I couldn’t agree with you and Joe more. The taxpayers paid for the courts but can’t use them, thats typical school board thinking. We are good enough to pay for them, but don’t let us use them. Put a fence up Whitson, show us some ingenuity for a change.
August 23rd, 2009 at 1:29 pm
If the kids are causing the proplem late at night how about enforcing the curfew laws in the city, that would be a start or are they afraid they might damage or little darlings by making them obey some rules. Better yet lets enforce our parent responsibility laws that our council pasted a few years ago.
Years ago behind DHS was the place to hang out to smoke and gather with your friend, now there is nice new tennis courts for them to do it at.
As far as playing the game of tennis, maybe the city needs to add more courts in the several parks for those who play.
If you want to keep the skate boarder and roller bladers off the courts build a couple of skate parks for them. When I was a kid and wanted to skate Iwent to the youth center, but acording to our city fathers skating isn’t popular any more, Yea right, and the earth is flat too. News flash… all thats happen is the wheels were rearranged.
August 23rd, 2009 at 1:31 pm
I agree with the school district. Just because we pay school taxes doesn’t entitle us to use the district’s facilities. Should I be allowed to just walk into a school and use its library or its computer labs or its wood shop. Or how about all the video equipment at Dearborn High. I’d love to have access to that.
These things were built for the students of the district not the general population. The same thing is true of the tennis courts and the fancy new fields at the high schools. They were made so the students could have the best facilities possible for their teams.
How silly it is that we expect to be able to use facilities that were not made for us.
August 23rd, 2009 at 8:57 pm
Paul, way to put it exactly as it needed to be said. Perfect. If people want more tennis courts in the parks, go tell the council that! Don’t use what was designed and funded for children.
August 24th, 2009 at 10:43 am
Paul you must be a big brown-noser for the school-board, as that a shitty excuse, for not letting the taxpayers have access to the tennis courts. What if we don’t go to the basketball games, or football games, and give them additional funds, then where would they be? Stop sucking up.
August 24th, 2009 at 10:46 am
As for u Lifelong Dbn. Resident, why should the City do everything, as we pay twice as much for school taxes as opposed to City taxes. Stop sucking up, as we are all residents, and parents of the schools, and whats right is right.
August 24th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
I am with Abe.
You are brilliant. Seriously.
But tell me, why stop with the tennis courts? Your argument is solid and well thought out. Really. Not to get carried away or anything, but why stop there?
Why not allow use of the classrooms, gym equipment, woodshop, metal shop, band instruments. We don’t need a public libary–let’s all just use the school library.
Hey, I’m having a family reunion next week–my family could use one of the buses and drive the whole clan to the park. Then we could head back to the school and all take a dip in the pool. I mean it’s not like anyone would be using it late in the evening.
My mower is broken, but I saw a nice mower in the shed at the school. I pay taxes, they should let me use it.
Heck yeah Abe, heck yeah!!! This is a great idea.
In fact, let’s organize this effort. We could meet in one of the classrooms, you could be the leader of the group. And if it’s in the evening, we could wear uniforms too. The band has a lot of them. You could be like the drum major, dude. We’d look great. And we’d have different committees looking into how we could best use the school’s resources. With all the technology and equipment, we could build a website to gather and promote ideas and have it hosted on a school server. You know what that is right dude? Those server things are expensive, but heck, we paid for it with taxes. This could be one of the best civic money saving ideas yet Abe, and it’s all you baby!!!
Seriously, why stop with the tennis courts Abe? That would be shitty. (By the way, that’s a good word I’d forgotten about) Why stop there? the question begs, Abe.
Don’t let anyone ever again tell you you’re a stupid man Abe. You sound intelligent and well thought out.
August 24th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
“Jamal says:
August 23rd, 2009 at 11:35 am
Deb I couldn’t agree with you and Joe more. The taxpayers paid for the courts but can’t use them, thats typical school board thinking.”
The taxpayers paid for the gym too. That doesn’t mean they somehow have the right to use it for a basketball game while hosting their family reunion there in February.
August 24th, 2009 at 11:29 pm
I didn’t give an opinion, just pointed out that it wasn’t a sudden budget decision but a part of the plan from the start. Of course the schools need to protect their investment in the new artificial turf and other facilities. I do think they should have been clear from the start that new facilities would be locked up.
Obviously neighbors using an outdoor track or field for their evening walk is different than expecting to enter a building and use a computer or library. Outdoor school facilities have been open forever and have become part of neighborhoods. Does that mean using them is a right? No, but a little upfront honesty would be a nice change in our school district and it would have been a welcome courtesy to mention the fences and locks when the new facilities were announced.
August 25th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
No one should be able to use the elementary school play grounds either! Come on, get reasonable people there is a difference between inside items and outdoor grounds.
August 31st, 2009 at 6:37 pm
While I somewhat agree with the logic that compares the use of the schools outside facilities with the indoor facilities, it has become a common part of living in Dearborn (and most communities) that those outdoor facilities are open to public use when not being used by the school. With that in mind, the city has suddenly taken away the ability for the public to use the facilities and not provided adequate alternatives. If our tax dollars went to pay for these new facilities, then their ability to be used should not have been changed. Fortunately, Edsel Ford has been open most of the summer and I have been there several nights when people are waiting to play because the courts are full. Tennis seems to be a more popular sport this year because it is an inexpensive activity that is good for you. I hope the city/schools open their eyes and reverse this course of action.
September 9th, 2009 at 7:18 am
I think we should be required the police to do their jobs and protect and serve. When I was growing in up in this beautiful city the police took care of any mischief that might happpen. The kids that did that sort of thing did it once, and paid a hefty price for doing it. It is a shame that our society’s answer is just to lock it up instead of allowing people the use of something we all pay for. It is ours, I personally pay over 4000 a year in school taxes and if I want to play tennis after dinner at 7 o’clock I should be able to. They didn’t ask me to build a new court; the old ones were just fine. This is just another example of our society moving closer and closer to a socialist society.