Lindbergh School District officials first began discussing improving the lighted field and track field at Lindbergh High School more than a year ago.

During a work session in April 2008, improvement options were presented to the Board of Education for future consideration that included insulating the two fields with six inches of sand and replacing the fields’ grass with synthetic turf. As proposed then, district reserves would fund the one-time expenditure for the sand-based system, but Chief Financial Officer Pat Lanane said the synthetic-turf option would require a fund-raising campaign by district volunteers.

Traditionally, Lindbergh never has had a shortage of volunteers and this case is no different. The Lindbergh Partners, an arm of the Lindbergh School District Foundation, recently was granted permission by the Board of Education to solicit donations to raise the funds for synthetic turf.

During its presentation to the board, the group assured the board it will adhere to some clear guidelines.

Among those guidelines are:

• “We propose to raise an amount equal to the difference between what the district is prepared to spend to refurbish the fields using a sand-based system and the cost to install artificial turf.”

• “We understand that our financial commitment must be firm and clear; promissory notes, pledges, promises of future considerations, etc., will not be acceptable. The final financial commitment will take the form of a cashier’s check or letter of credit from an accredited financial institution.”

The state of the economy is no se-cret, as evidenced by Board of Education President Ken Fey’s question for the group: “… So obviously the economic environment that we are in today has not scared you all off and you still believe this is not too big of a hurdle to achieve?”

The reply from Kevin Krueger of the Lindbergh Partners was impressive: “It hasn’t. The economic environment of today convinced us that we were going to have to raise funds separately. It wasn’t something that this district could afford to do on its own, and we’ve done some preliminary investigations and we think the capabilities are there. And our consultants also tell us that it is.”

We’re impressed that the Lindbergh Partners are willing to step up for their school district, and we wish them well in their endeavor to provide ex-ceptional facilities for Lindbergh students.