After temporary exile, SM East soccer team likely headed back to practice at Mission Valley

The Mission Valley soccer fields used by the SM East boys soccer team have been vacant since the school switched owners last week.

A week of confusion over whether the SM East boys soccer team could continue to hold practices on the Mission Valley Middle School fields appears to be nearing resolution — though how long it will be before the team returns to practicing in Prairie Village is up in the air.

Shawnee Mission School District Athletic Director Rusty Newman and RED Development spokesman Dave Claflin confirmed to the Prairie Village Post on Monday that attorneys for both organizations were finalizing an agreement that would let the team practice on the fields. The team was instructed to stop practicing there in anticipation of the change in ownership of the school property from the district to RED.

This sparked a wave of protest from several team parents after many of the practices were moved to the district’s soccer complex at 95th Street and Nieman Road.

“I think mostly it was just a lack of communication that led to the issues,” Newman said. “All of the attorneys are working to get a deal together, but we don’t know when it will be done.”

Claflin said RED was committed to keeping the Mission Valley field open for official SM East use through the end of the boys soccer season next month, and that the company was working with the Kansas City Strikers soccer team as well.

“We’ve talked to our lawyers and can’t see any reason not to keep the fields open for this positive community use as long as the teams have insurance in place,” he said.

Claflin said the company would likely be posting new signs outside the fields restricting their use to approved teams.