The Heights High softball field project will include improved infield dirt and outfield grass, new canvas-top dugouts and portable home run fence, new backstop fencing, new grandstand with concrete path, and a new scoreboard.

Together with the Heights athletic department and school district, the Heights Softball Booster Club is raising money for a new softball field at the corner of Washington and Goodnor at Cleveland Heights High School.

The softball team has never had its own field. The team has played their home games at Forest Hill Park and was bussed there – an additional expense to the Heights High Athletics program. As a result, very few fans came to their games and the team has never enjoyed the “home field advantage.” The Heights High baseball team has a wonderful field off of Cedar Road on the Heights High campus. Fastpitch softball cannot be played on a traditional baseball field since the distances between bases and the configuration of the pitching circle/mound are different.

The project is to include upgrades to the infield dirt and outfield grass, addition of canvas top dugouts and a portable home run fence (current field has neither), new backstop fencing, new grandstand with concrete path, and a new scoreboard. A brochure with more images of the project is available here.

The cost of the project is approximately $30,000. The softball boosters need to raise at least half of these funds. Please consider supporting this worthy project.

DONATIONS: Make checks payable to Reaching Heights (put Softball Field in memo line). Send to me at 2981 Lincoln Blvd. Or you can donate right through the reaching heights website @ http://www.reachingheights.org/how-you-can-help/donate/. Check the “Softball Field Improvement Fund” under Purpose of Gift.

Screen printed floor mat by Jeanne Regan.

printmaking, painting, collage and assemblage. Workshops for teens and adults in clay, screen printing, book arts, painting and more are offered on Wednesday and Thursday evenings. Please visit the classes page at www.heightsarts.org for a full listing of courses or call 216.371.3457.

A full listing of courses and times is available here.

Food will be provided and there will be activities for kids.

Additional public meetings, also at Heights High in the Social Room, are scheduled for February 22 and March 21.

More information on the facilities master plan can be found at the district’s facilities planning blog, or on their Facebook page.

John is a graduate of Shaker Heights High School and has taught in public schools in California. “As a veteran educator, I’ve experienced the best of both public and private education and I can honestly say that public schools offer the greatest opportunity for students. Public schools expose students to a wide range of diversity, bringing together social, intellectual, cultural, athletic, creative, and economic differences in a microcosm that prepares them for far more than academic success as they continue through their lives.”

Over her career in education, Karen has served as a social studies teacher, guidance counselor, choir director, and track coach. She teaches in the South Euclid-Lyndhurst district, is head track coach at Beachwood Middle School and Gospel Choir director at Brush High School.

Karen earned her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Accounting from Tennessee State University, and was voted Miss Tennessee State University. She earned a Master’s degree in Education, Guidance & Counseling, and an Educational Administration Certification from John Carroll University. She is a member of the National Sorority of Phi Delta Kappa, Inc. (National Educators Sorority), the International Women’s Air & Space Museum Brain Trust, which promotes female involvement in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., a service organization promoting education and social initiatives. She was facilitator for the Black Lemonade Project, a research study examining African American family dynamics & relationships. She and husband Al Jones have four children.