High school notebook: Community meeting planned on Taft Stadium renovation

The meeting will be held at 6 Tuesday at the Northwest Classen High School auditorium, located at 2801 NW 27 St. in Oklahoma City.

The meeting is open to students, parents and other community members who wish to learn about the project, which is being paid for by a 2007 district-wide bond issue and other Oklahoma City Public Schools funds.

Taft Stadium, built in 1934, currently hosts football games for Northwest Classen and John Marshall football games, as well as those for multiple OKCPS middle schools. In the past, it hosted everything from All-State games to stock car races.

The meeting is being coordinated by MA+ Architecture, the firm handling the renovation, as well as the MAPS trust project office. Money from the 2007 bond issue is being managed by MAPS.

OKC's Speegle Stadium is undergoing a similar renovation, and John Marshall is in the process of building a new stadium on its school campus, meaning OKCPS will greatly increase the quality of its stadiums for football, soccer and track in the coming year.

JOHN MARSHALL TO INTRODUCE WOODS TUESDAY

Former Oklahoma State football star Rashaun Woods will be introduced as the new football coach at John Marshall High School on Tuesday afternoon in a press conference at the school.

Woods, who has worked as an assistant at Star Spencer and Millwood over the last five seasons, is replacing Bruce Troxell, who stepped down after six years.

Woods, a former Millwood player, had a standout career at Oklahoma State. He was picked in the first round of the 2004 NFL Draft and spent parts of four seasons in the NFL and CFL before ending his professional career.