Franklin High School tennis teams may have their real home court to play on come this spring. The Board of Education on Sept. 29 awarded an $847,917 contract to Halecon, Inc. of Bridgewater to reconstruct the school's tennis courts, which haven't been used in years. Schools Superintendent John Ravally said the contract was awarded at the suggestion of the school board's litigation attorney. "They said we shouldn’t wait any longer, we should proceed and use our capital reserve fund and replace the courts and they’ll take it from there," he said. Ravally said the attorneys felt they'd have a stronger case for getting the district reimbursed if they had actual bills for the work, rather than estimates. The problem with the courts surfaced more than five years ago, Ravally said. The surface in several areas cracked, "and then they destabilized," he said. "The engineering report is sharing that they believe something is shifting underneath," Ravally said. Warrior tennis teams have been playing their home matches in local parks since then. The work will entail completely demolishing the courts, rebuilding the sub-structure, "and going from there," Ravally said. "So the sub-structure will be replaced, which is what the board has been litigating over, and then the courts will be rebuilt from there," he said. "It has come at the recommendation of our litigators that we should go ahead and rebuild the courts, get them functioning so that our kids no longer lose out." Ravally said the new courts should be ready in time for the spring tennis season.
The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
