Any doubt that playing high school baseball at Lee Johnson Field is a highly-cherished community tradition was removed Monday night at the Lake Washington School District Board meeting.

Parents, Lake Washington High School baseball players and other supporters in the community appealed to the district board to stop a proposal by the high school athletic department to move the varsity team’s home games from Lee Johnson Field at Peter Kirk Park to the baseball field at the high school. The controversy started when baseball players’ parents received an email from the LWHS athletic department  stating their intent to move varsity team games from Lee Johnson Field to the high school field, with all varsity games at the high school by 2017.

As a demonstration of community support, the petition on change.org to keep the team playing at Lee Johnson received nearly 1,000 supporters in three days.

Yet, these fears may be unfounded, as the district board members were unaware of the proposal, which has drawn outrage from at least one board member.

Director of District Two Christopher Carlson, a Kirkland resident, said he had not heard anything about the proposal prior to the meeting, but is alarmed that many people think the district was responsible for it. He also expressed his frustration with what he sees as poor communication with the parties involved.

“Let’s be honest, we’re a school district,” he said. “We’re trying to get leviespassed. This is a stupid way to lose votes.”

He also said that if board members such as himself had been contacted when the matter first came up it could have been resolved without producing unnecessary anxiety on the part of the baseball players.

“If they had just sent us an email with enough warning we could have recognized this was stupid and we’re going to do what we need to fix it,” he said. “I’m very confident that this will rapidly be reversed once we find out what happened, because it just doesn’t make sense.”

Although the proposal is meant to save money, Kang baseball players and their parents say it would destroy a decades-old tradition. Despite being recently renovated, the LWHS field does not have lights, which would make it impossible for the Kangs to play at night.

“This location in the heart of downtown Kirkland, Washington, has created a special tradition for the program and its passionate baseball community where evening games typically attract several hundred fans,” the petition reads. “Playing baseball games at Lee Johnson Field is something local kids start dreaming about in Little League Baseball or before.”

Among those who attended the meeting was Redmond High School alumnus Corky Trewin, an umpire and former Little League coach who also had the opportunity to play at Lee Johnson while attending Redmond High School.

Trewin said they told the district board that the opportunity to play at Lee Johnson field is a privilege not just for the Kangs, but for other teams as well.

“The tradition of those games is inherently Kirkland,” he said. “Not only does the Lake Washington High School baseball team like playing in downtown Kirkland, the opposing teams enjoy the opportunity to play in downtown Kirkland.”

This sentiment was expressed by many who signed the online petition, such as LWHS alumnus Mikal Norman.

“I remember watching Kang games, under the lights of newly renovated Peter Kirk Field in the 80s, with my father’s best friend, Lee Johnson,” he wrote. “The new practice facility is awesome, but playing under the lights, is making it to the “big-time” for youth baseball players, and where the Kangs should play.”

From the school district’s perspective, however, the proposal was just as much a surprise to them as it was to the players and their parents, according to LWSD spokesperson Kathryn Reith, who said they first became aware of it after Superintendent Dr. Traci Pierce started receiving emails over the weekend.

She added that Pierce has directed the district staff to examine the proposal before any decision is made on their part.

“We are just learning what the proposal is,” she said.

One aspect of the dispute is whether the move would save money or cost more. LWHS, for example, believes the proposed move curbs costs by eliminating the rental fees for using the field, which is owned by the city of Kirkland. The Kangs Baseball Booster Club contends it would cost more to move them back to the high school. Plus, the Booster Club has offered to pay the rental fees, according to the online petition.

Regardless of whether it would save money, Carlson believes the situation was handled poorly and generated unnecessary controversy at a time when the district least needs it.

“You just pissed off all the baseball boosters, and we’re going to ask them for a levy in two years,” he said.

According to Reith, the superintendent has the authority to stop the proposal if she wanted to or simply direct the principal to review it.

Last year, the Kangs were the 2A state runner-up, and the team has made five other state tournament appearances since 2004. The team has also been KingCo champs 16 times since 1955.