The St. Helena Unified School District Board will proceed with the installation of an all-weather football field and track at St. Helena High School, acknowledging that graduating seniors are unhappy with the consequence: Their June 8 ceremony is being moved to the front of Vintage Hall.

Earlier this year, residents Roger Trinchero and Gary Erickson each pledged $500,000 toward the project. The project now has an estimated price tag of $2.8 million, $400,000 more than the board agreed to April 19.

The board has fast-tracked the project in hopes of completing it before the first Saints football game, Sept. 7. The field is scheduled to be finished Aug. 24; the track several weeks later.

Demolition begins before the graduation ceremony. Postponing demolition could delay the project’s end until mid-September, forcing football and soccer games to be played elsewhere, said Allan Gordon, school district superintendent.

“We need to look at what it really means to graduate from St. Helena Unified School District,” said trustee Ines DeLuna-Macias. “To me, having it in front of Vintage Hall is going to be absolutely beautiful.”

In hopes of continuing the 34-year-old tradition of holding graduation on the football field, 65 out of 118 graduating seniors signed a petition  asking the district to delay construction.

“They want to graduate out there,” said Anthony Micheli, whose son Jason will graduate this year. “I don’t think it’s our decision to tell them where they’re going to graduate.”

In a written statement to the board, Micheli threatened to sue Gordon and each trustee for $10,000 in small claims court to make up for what he spent on his son’s invitations, which said graduation would take place at the football field.

He also threatened to campaign for the removal of trustees Cynthia Jaeger and Cindy Warren, who are up for reelection in November 2008.

Micheli also accused the district of signing an $8 million contract with Eleven Western Builders. Gordon said the $8 million figure came from a long-term high school facilities master plan approved at the board’s April meeting. The football field and track project is the first stage of that master plan, Gordon said.

Jaeger was the only trustee to speak in favor of postponing the project so graduation could proceed on the football field. Postponing the project until after graduation would only delay its start by nine days, she said.

Trustee Jim Haslip said the lengthy project would disrupt activities regardless of when it is undertaken. Beginning work before graduation would disturb the fewest students and activities, he said. Given the tendency of construction projects to run long, expecting the field to be done in time for the first football game is “wishful thinking,” he added. “We really don’t know. That’s why I’d like to start as soon as possible.”

Gordon pointed out that prior graduation have been at Carpy Field and in the high school auditorium.