Residents in the Hockinson School District voted down a capital project levy in February, and district officials want to know why.

The vote was about whether to replace Hockinson High School’s main athletic field with synthetic turf, and 59.35 percent of residents who voted went against the measure. The district, which sent out a survey on April 13 to get residents’ thoughts on the turf replacement, will accept responses through Friday. More information and the survey itself can be found at www.hocksd.org.

“We have to do something,” Hockinson Superintendent Sandra Yager said. “Our field is draining, but it’s such a wet area right here.”

Yager said it was the school board’s decision to go back to the public to get more information. Board officials wanted to know if the levy was rejected due to financial concerns or because residents don’t want a synthetic turf field.

“We had some people in the community who were very strongly in favor of it, and so we wanted to show respect for that viewpoint,” said Steve Nylund, chairman of the school board. “We also realized that other community members may have a different viewpoint. It seemed like a fair and reasonable way to ask the community to decide if this was something that was a good thing for the district to do.”