I recently moved to a new county in the DC area (Loudoun). There is a high school a couple miles from my house so I was planning to use the track on the weekends for speed workouts as I’ve done for years in different communities. I was surprised to find the local H.S. track locked and a sign stating that permission must be granted to gain access to the track. Of course I jumped the fence only to be greeted by a security guard 15 minutes later saying it was against school rules and that I needed to speak directly to the school principle. This is total B.S.; taxpayer dollars built that school & the track. I’ve always used the local H.S. track in every single place I’ve ever lived, this doesn’t seem right to me. As a kid I would spend all summer playing tennis on the local H.S. tennis courts, heck everyone did. I understand that it’s a different world today and schools need to be safe but on the weekends and during the summer the track should be open to the community.
Anyone else experience this and how did you proceed?
Tracks around DC are tough to find. Some of the ones in the city are in less than safe areas, so I have ventured into VA. Haven’t been there in a while, but last fall I was running on a nice track, can’t remember the school name, it was in VA, rubberized track and had a quasi-turf football field. I think it was off of either exit 7 or 9 from 395.
I have jumped the fence there when they are late to open it up, but have never had any problems, usually security opens it up as there is always a soccer practice or something going on. Haven’t tried going during the week.
Go talk to the school board. Even our anti-exercise city keeps the football stadium open and with one light on in the evening for people to use the track and stairs.
About 1.5 miles from my house is a HS with a beautiful new track. It would piss me off to no end when I would show up for a workout and it was locked up.
Well, I gave up on using HS tracks.
If you have a GPS, you can do your intervals anywhere.
That’s what I did last year. My results were very good.
It must be a Virginia thing. In the Richmond area, all the public high school tracks are locked up except for one or two. The private schools typically have better tracks and are unlocked. Go figure. The tracks we all pay for are locked but the tracks that aren’t owned by the public are open.
Some things are really hard to understand, others are not worth the effort.
Same thing happened to me here in IL. The local H.S. is about 1.5 miles from home and I found myself locked out on a couple of occasions. I got in touch with the school’s A.D., explained who I was, why I wanted to use the track, and what time I expected to be there. Voila - problem solved. Hope your local A.D. is as accomodating.
First, the fact that these facilities are paid for by you, the taxpayer, doesn’t mean you get to use them at will. Would you expect them to leave the school itself (which was paid for by you) unlocked so you could, say, surf the 'net on their tax-payer-provided computers and taxpayer-provided 'net connection?
Go and talk, nicely, to someone as high up the food chain as possible, and ask for permission to use the track when it is not in use by students or others authorized to use the track. Remember that you are asking them to do you a favor
My local HS is .55miles from my house, and is never locked nor has any signs indicating it is not to be used. There is a sign saying no animals, though. The best school district in the area (Holmdel, NJ) has signs on the facilities indicating that its track is open to the public.
Our field was open with no lights on. people were in there running the track and stairs in the dark. I went to the school board and told them they had a safety issue but rather than locking up, think of the public benefit and quality of life improvement of having a safe venue to work out in the evening yada yada yada. Spin it positive and make them look like heros for doing it them thank them publically.
Ken, I see a big difference between using school computers and running on the outdoor track. My main point was that in my experience, the local h.s. track should serve the community as well…of course when school is not in session; similar to allowing a church to use the local h.s. gym for services. I will contact the school and politely share my views; hopefully he/she will get the bigger picture of community involvement and curbing obesity trends.
We had the same issue with some people from our local running club getting locked out. They were able to negotiate with the high school to use the track prior to 8am and after 6pm (without the lights being turned on). If day light’s an issue then wear a headlamp.
… that I needed to speak directly to the school principle.
Ah ha, you need to go see the principal. You’re in trouble.
Sorry, no idea how to proceed, everywhere I’ve lived they have welcomed people to use the facilities anytime. Surely they can’t be that silly not to allow you to use it.
A lot of tracks around the country are kept locked up for various reasons: liability, vandalism, etc. Just go find out from the principal what the scoop is.
Blame a lawyer and “victim” somwhere. Probably somewhere in VA, someone was using the track, tripped and broke a bone, and sued the school system. Now they lock up all the tracks.
Another reason they may want to discourage community use is that recreational runners and triathletes wear the hell out of lanes 1 and 2. one of our localtracks block the first two lanes with saw horses which seems to save a lot of wear and tear… With school tax dollars getting harder to come by each year, I don’t blame ADs from wanting to protect their track.
I have seen kids/adults putting out smokes, tagging. riding bikes . throwing bottles, riding motercycles/atvs, letting their dog shit on High School tracks in my 35 years of running on tracks. Velodromes share similar issues.
I am sort of on the fence about taxpayers rights. Yea we paid for it, but the AD should also be responsible to protect it. Often enough an AD will allow some persons to use facilities after hours, just by asking. But if the track has a history of vandalism it might be tight to get in.
W-L in Arlington is unlocked and open pretty much 24/7 - even through all the crazy school construction. That would probably be a little out of your way though?
Good luck talking to the big man about getting it unlocked, I don’t see why they would object. You did pay for it…
I’ve never heard of anything like this - I agree that it’s total BS. Probably the result of some idiotic tort lawsuit based on an injury either on school property or about which some overzealous administrator or school board member read. When I flirted with public office (was an elected school board member in the Midwest for 2 terms) I was very conscious of the fact - a fact of which I reminded the administration and faculty, both during contract negotiations and at other germane times - that public education relies on the consent of its taxpayers for all capital expenditures and operating expenditures; and that the school facilities are public property; restrictions on their use should be designed to (i) optimize the educational experience for the students; (ii) maintain safety of students and faculty; and (iii) provide appropriate return on investment for the taxpayers. That return is nonfinancial, and typically consists in accommodation of public events, such as access to fields, pools, community education and the like. You may want to raise the issue with the school board, as it sounds like the administration may have forgotten who their ultimate bosses are - and to whom they are ultimately accountable.