It’s impractical to ask neighbors to wait a week or more to get permission to squeeze in a morning run before work or a jog before dinner. A more practical solution would be to require neighbors who use the track regularly to register with Dallas ISD every few months or once a year.
There’s also confusion about when exactly nearby residents are allowed to use the track without registering. David Bates, the district’s chief of operations, told us that residents can use Dallas ISD tracks for a few hours before school starts and after students go home and that the tracks are only locked before it gets dark outside.He said residents can’t expect the school district to pay custodians overtime to unlock the tracks outside of these hours. That makes sense.
Patsy Shropshire, a resident who lives near W.T. White, said she and her neighbors are prepared to invest in security cameras and designate a neighborhood “lifeguard” on the track to allay DISD’s fears about vandalism and violence on its property. There’s a keypad on the gate to the track, but residents say the passcode has never been shared with them.
As neighbors and as taxpayers, many Dallas residents share the district’s goals of protecting students and district property. Dallas ISD should work with them to find a compromise that allows residents to use the running tracks during reasonable hours and keeps them engaged with their local high school.