On Monday of this week, a hearing held by City Councillor Henry Santana’s Committee on Education to take up the issue of how the city’s student-athletes can reclaim priority time slots for practices at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center in Roxbury attracted its sponsoring councillors, city officials, representatives of the Lewis Center, and Jackie Jenkins-Scott, interim president of Roxbury Community College, which operates the facility.

Missing in action: a representative from the Boston Public Schools (BPS) administration.

“You may sense I am frustrated. It’s in no way [due] to the panelists in front of me,” said Councillor-at large Erin Murphy, a co-sponsor of the hearing. “This is such an important conversation where we have a room full of colleagues who all found the time to be here.” She added that she was hoping to talk with BPS athletics officials on how the city can find ways to be “more committed to our students.”

As the hearing moved along, the focus moved back and forth between talk of the situation at the Lewis Center, the need for more venues for the city’s track and field athletes, and the worn condition of the facility itself.

In December, the Reporter revealed that, among other examples, Dorchester’s TechBoston Academy indoor track team had to conduct practices in its school’s hallways and staircases and through its doors despite the fact that the 200-meter indoor Mondo Super X track at the “Reggie,” the center’s street name, was mere miles away.

When the center was built in 1995 as a statewide facility, the city’s schools were led to believe that practice and competition times would be a priority for the community first. Some 30 years later, that belief bears no relation to reality. 

Jenkins-Scott explained that more than 17,000 public high school students compete at the center between November and March every year, which this year means that the center has been hosting two meets a night, the first one kicking off at 4 p.m., the second at 7:30. “Serving all of our constituents effectively is certainly a balancing act and we are always open to hearing new ideas on how we can improve access and operations,” she said.

The situation at the “Reggie” for BPS athletes is that their set-aside practice time is between 2 and 4 p.m., when they have to leave as statewide competitions get underway.

Ted Loska, a longtime teacher and coach at BPS, with an emphasis on swimming and track, said that even though the center isn’t booked until 4 p.m., he and his BPS track and field athletes are usually kicked out by 3:30 p.m. “This leaves out all the schools that don’t get out at quarter of two and have to travel halfway across the city,” he said.
“There are potentially talented kids who come from TechBoston and a couple of other places that don’t get out until 3:30.

“What I would like to see is a way to accommodate those athletes so they can access a track where they can practice.” 

Sean Nyhan, a teacher at the Condon School and a track coach at Boston Latin School, agreed that timing is a key issue. Speaking via Zoom, he pointed to the fact that most teachers, himself included, are still in school at 2 p.m.
District 7’s Tania Fernandes Anderson, a hearing co-sponsor with Murphy and District 6 Councillor Benjamin Weber, said she was eager to learn how the 13 councillors could help set up the accommodations that Loska was asking for. 

She suggested that the council could help alleviate the pressure the Lewis Center faces every day by asking proprietors of other training facilities in the city – the TRACK at New Balance as well as the facilities at Harvard and Boston University – what they are doing for the community.

Michael Turner, the executive director of the “Reggie” explained that since these other locations charge hundreds of dollars per hour in rent, high schools look to utilize the free state facility at the Lewis Center.

The Globe reported that Turner said he is working to establish relationships with Boston’s for-profit track centers to explore more opportunities for meeting state and city demands.

He also noted that with so many athletes and little funding, the “Reggie” has been unable to make much-needed renovations. He said the most crucial needs include replacing the roof and HVAC system, work that will require over $20 million. He added “The track is on its last legs.”

Said Jenkins-Scott, “This center is important to the whole state. Next year it will celebrate its 30th anniversary and there has been no major investment in it.”