Parma City Schools football field shuts down after powerful storm

PARMA, Ohio (WJW) – A historic storm’s impact is now dimming some of the brightest Friday night lights Northeast Ohio has to offer.

Parma City School District Superintendent Charlie Smialek carried with him an unfortunate message to Byers Field.

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For the immediate future, Byers Field will be shut down after it was hit hard by last week’s powerful storm.

“It was significant enough that we have had one engineer come out and we are going to have a second one come out,” shared Smialek.

The damage done included:

• A portion of the back wall that helps hold the home side bleachers together

• Most of the lights on the field

• Some of the protective gates surrounding the stadium

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Superintendent Smialek shared that they don’t have an exact timeline yet for how long Byers Field could be shut down.

But one thing seems undeniable, the timing of this incident couldn’t be much worse.

“We are talking with our opponents to see what would work best. We have already switched a scrimmage,” Smialek said.

While experts continue their assessment, Smialek becomes a crisis management expert of sorts, making sure to do right by all of the high school athletes impacted.

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“Number one has to be safety. We can’t do something just to do something,” Smialek said.

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