Following pressure from the Mansfield community the Mansfield City Council voted unanimously to reconsider their former vote to build a Dr Pepper StarCenter. Worried taxpayers expressed their concern that the construction of the StarCenter would use Mansfield ISD funds. Mansfield ISD Superintendent Dr. Jim Vaszauskas addressed the decision at a regular board meeting Feb. 23.
“First of all I would like to thank the Dallas Stars for even considering our community and for thinking of us,” Dr. Vaszauskas said. “When preparing for this decision we as a school board have considered comments from the community and both sides supported a strong argument. The City of Mansfield retracted its decision and therefore we will take no further action.”
The Dr Pepper StarCenter would’ve been constructed near US Highway 287 and Broad Street. The ice skating arena would’ve offered students as well as the community an opportunity to learn how to skate and to play hockey.
The City Council initially approved the deal with Dallas Stars Enterprises contingent on Mansfield ISD contributing $500,000 as well as $1.3 million in the future for access to the facility. Mansfield ISD students would then be offered field trips to learn the science behind creating the ice and the physics behind skating.
The benefits to the students seemed to not be worth the tremendous sum the city was requesting as taxpayers voiced their opinions at a called town hall meeting at the MISD Center for Performing Arts to discuss the proposal. Trustee Beth Light shared that over the course of the five years Mansfield ISD would be signed with the StarCenter each field trip would equate to $500.
“What other field trip do we fund that costs that kind of money,” Light said. “I think we do a pretty good job teaching curriculum in our classrooms.”
