What is this all about?  CSD’s Athletics Director Carter Wilson sent this letter out to the community…

As you can imagine, the upgrade in the facilities at Decatur High School has created a great deal of excitement among both the students and the staff. From a teaching perspective, we are now able to offer a greater variety of courses and engage our students like never before.

In terms of athletics, having a place to call home has meant a lot to all of our teams. The football team had a non-losing season, our basketball teams both had winning seasons, and our spring sports are all off to great starts. Much of this is directly related to the facility improvements on campus.

Recently, there was confusion regarding the use of the field at Decatur Stadium by youth lacrosse teams.

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As Next Stop…Decatur notes, the new DHS stadium gets christened tonight with its first football game as the Decatur Bulldogs take on the Hillgrove Hawks.  The game starts at 7:30pm, but a Pep Rally and Grand Opening Ceremony precede kickoff, starting at 5:30p.

According to the AJC, the city expects a big turnout.  Tickets are $5 for student, $7 general admission, and $10 for reserved seats.

Oh, and if you haven’t yet seen Decatur edTV’s interview with Decatur High Athletic Director, Carter Wilson, about what the new stadium means to DHS students and the community, I recommend taking a minute a watch it here.

InDecatur morns the loss of Decatur High Stadium, with a full report from last night’s Decatur City Commission meeting where commissioners approved a new master plan for the high school complex.

Green space seems to be a key concern of the DHS master plan, with the biggest change being the replacement of the current parking lot behind the stadium with plans for a quad in the long term. See InDecatur’s post for many more details of the meeting including a bizarre altercation between the mayor and a resident identified as “Paul”, who “implied he knew why he was not being given the respect the Commission usually offered others, and would make that public.” Uh…OK.

David goes on to accept some of the blame for the stadium’s demise, along with other DHS alums. “We, the alumni of DHS and friends of history, have to take some blame here. Had we started a SAVE OUR STADIUM campaign back in late summer, when we first learned of the plan, and had we developed and presented alternative plans, this travesty might have been prevented.”

I, for one, like the new plan’s inclusion of more green space and the new auditorium, but do believe the stadium might have been saved through remodeling and incorporated into the new plan rather easily. Especially if the new men’s and women’s locker rooms, which was a main justification for a new stadium, will be housed in the new auditorium anyway [according to inDecatur].

The Decatur Stadium issue is a perfect example of the struggle preservationists are currently having with themselves over their own philosophy. For 50 years, preservationists have waved the flag of mixed-use development, maintaining green space and retaining character, because these were the qualities of the downtowns and neighborhoods that were under attack by urban renewal.

Today, the argument has been turned on its head.

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