Five Tacoma Public Schools campuses will have upgraded athletic fields and facilities by the time fall sports begin, the district announced Aug. 16, with construction already underway at Silas High School.

The projects span the district: Silas High School is getting new baseball and softball facilities along with expanded tennis courts, while Mount Tahoma High School, Gray Middle School, Birney Elementary and Truman Middle School are receiving field and track improvements. All five are expected to open through fall and winter 2026.

The upgrades are funded by the 2024 Capital Projects Bond, a $650 million measure Tacoma voters approved in 2024. That same bond is funding other major projects across the district, including a $42 million IDEA High School replacement at the former Gault Middle School site in the McKinley neighborhood.

What's different about the turf

Many of the new fields will feature Pivot turf, a surface the district says plays more like natural grass while requiring less maintenance. The product, made by TenCate Grass, contains no added PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), skips the loose rubber pellets found on older synthetic fields and can be recycled at the end of its life.

TenCate launched Pivot in February 2025, calling it the first synthetic turf that requires no performance infill. The company says the surface features 16 times as many individual fibers as competing systems and carries a 12-year outdoor warranty. Ten installations are already in place across Washington state.

"Everyone seems to really like it. I think one of the really cool aspects is that you don't have the rubber pellets. So our guys aren't getting the turf burns like what they used to get, which actually comes from the pellets more so than the turf itself," Eric George, assistant vice president and deputy athletic director at Rice University, said at the product's February 2025 launch.

What residents should know

The district has not released a specific dollar figure for the five field projects or individual campus completion dates beyond the fall/winter 2026 window. A progress photo posted Aug. 16 shows active construction at Silas High School.

Residents can sign up for construction e-alerts through the Tacoma Public Schools website by clicking the orange bell icon at the top right of the Construction Updates page. Media inquiries go to chief communications officer Tanisha Jumper or assistant director of communications Kathryn McCarthy at [email protected] or 253-571-1015.

The district's construction page is available in Spanish, Khmer, Vietnamese, Korean and Russian.