Around a dozen people voiced their opinions about the proposed football stadium at Reynolds High School during a public meeting at the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Board of Education Building.

Those who oppose a stadium near Hanes Park said they are concerned about several issues including noise, traffic and parking.

“We are well aware as a downtown neighborhood that strong schools make strong communities, but I am deeply dismayed at the way this has been played out. The lack of transparency and the fact that little effort was made to engage the community has made it difficult to back any stadium plan,” said Jennifer Snowhite, from Winston-Salem.

“The argument has been made that Reynolds needs a stadium, that a stadium will address issues of travel and participation. This is a red herring. Home Field Advantage wants a stadium, but let’s be clear Reynolds does not need a stadium. Practice fields are what will best serve the needs of students and the community,” said Henry Lafferty.

This isn’t the first time there has been a push to build a new football stadium at Reynolds High School. The issue has been debated for decades. Currently, Reynolds High School shares the Deaton-Thompson stadium with Parkland High School on Clemmonsville Road.  

Those who support having a stadium on the Reynolds campus say it will encourage more participation in sports and improve the quality of life for students.

“We are a school of 1,700 plus students. Fort-five percent are on free and reduced lunch. Those forty-five percent are the ones that would benefit the most in athletics. Studies say students who participate in high school athletics smoke less, have lower rates of teen pregnancy and graduate more and go to college," said Stan Dean, President of the Reynolds Booster Club

Chandler Borton is a senior at Reynolds High School. She plays several sports, including women’s field hockey.

“It would provide us with locker rooms to change before practice because currently we change in our cars. The benefits of this would extend to the cheer of the crowd  that finally knows its home,” said  Borton.

During the public meeting, some school board members expressed confusion over what they were actually voting on Tuesday night.

In the end, it came down to whether or not the school board would give a group of stadium supporters known as Home Field Advantage the authorization to begin fundraising efforts for the new stadium. The cost of the project is estimated between $6 to $7 million dollars. The stadium would be paid for by private funds.

The Winston-Salem Forsyth County Board of Education members voted 6 to 3 in favor of giving the group the green light to start fundraising for the project.

Katherine Spanos is President of Home Field Advantage.  She said the next step will be establishing the group as a non-profit organization.

“We hopefully will have the naming rights for the stadium, so we are going to look for that to bring in a huge majority of the monies. Bricks, seats, we are excited for our student body and future generations to come,” said Spanos.

The original proposal called for a 4,500 seat stadium, but school officials are looking at a smaller version with around 2,200 seats.

11-year-old Zoe Spanos attended the meeting wearing a Reynolds cheerleading outfit. She said the thought of cheering for her team in a stadium that she can call home someday is something she’s looking forward to.

“Last year for field hockey my mom had to buy a score board and now we play at a soccer field that’s not even ours. I feel that a lot of high schools have their own home fields and we deserve to have our own,” said Spanos.

But raising enough money for the new stadium doesn't mean it will happen on the Reynolds high School campus. Donny Lambeth, Chairman of the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School Board, says school board members will consider several options.

“It was referred to C1, which is essentially a smaller stadium and includes practice fields and it also moves it a little closer to the road and a little bit further away from the boundary of Hanes Park, so of the four options that we had that I think is the preferred option among the school board members but I don’t think that is cast in stone. Several school board members expressed concern about is that the right location,” said Lambeth.

School officials say a smaller stadium would meet the city’s parking requirements.

On December 3, Winston-Salem City Council will consider a proposal that would require a special-use permit for stadiums that have more than 1,500 seats and do not provide at least one parking space for every four stadium seats.