RSS 2.0 FeedJuly 22, 2010, Bellmore Life
Sports teams get fields until October 31
CHSD agrees to let local sports teams have access to their fields until October 31.
Grand Avenue and Merrick Avenue Middle School football fields will remain open through October 31 to allow outside community sports teams to play out their fall seasons, Saul Lerner, director of physical education, athletics, health services and driver education for the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District, told Bellmore Life. The fields were slated to be closed to outside teams before the school season began.
At a school board meeting last week, newly sworn-in Central High School District Board President Nina Lanci got an earful from soccer and lacrosse members who contended that closing five school fields to outside groups would deprive hundreds of community kids from participating in sports teams, leaving many of them vulnerable to seeking other activities such as drugs.
In March, the school district’s special Field Committee to study the feasibility of new synthetic turf concluded that the Calhoun, Kennedy and Mepham High School fields should instead be closed to outside usage from traveling community teams, and only be used for school football, soccer and lacrosse teams during their seasons.
Because of budget constraints due primarily to reductions in state aid, the district said it is unable to purchase new synthetic fields without the spectre of raising taxes.
The order to close Merrick and Grand Avenue Middle School fields, part of the Field Committee report, has now been rescinded until October 31.
The initial plan to close all fields drew the ire of both community sports team officials and parents. Susan Mandeltort spoke first to the newly reconfigured board – which also included the election of Trustee Matthew Kutchner as new vice-president – to remind them that if it wasn’t for the community traveling teams such as PAL, many kids would not have a chance to play sports because they would never get onto school teams.
She implored the board not to close the fields for the benefit of the kids, or at least delay their closings.
“It’s hard when a child does not make it onto a high school team,” she told Bellmore Life afterward, “so without the PAL teams and some structure in their lives they could get involved in drugs such as heroin.”
Matt Kurzweil, president of Merrick Travel soccer – which includes scores of Bellmore students – then addressed the board, saying that 1,500 kids play soccer in the travel teams, and that the teams are being challenged to find fields to play on at the times they need to play.
The teams used Merrick Avenue and Brookside on a regular basis on Sundays.
“By closing Merrick Avenue, several hundred kids may not be able to play soccer this year,” if some accommodations can’t be found, said Mr. Kurzweil.
With a two-season schedule – one in spring and the other in fall – that needs to met, he offered to partner with the board to finds solutions to the scheduling conflicts facing his travel teams.
“What can we do to partner with you, fund raise or maintain the fields?” he asked the board.
Bellmore teams not affected
John Ferarra, president of the Bellmore-Merrick Youth Association which sponsors the Bellmore Braves football teams, said he will have no problem getting field time for his 300-400 kids to play football. The team serves both Bellmore and Merrick youth.
He uses the Jerusalem Avenue BOCES field for practice during August, and says he has the permits to do so. He said the teams usually practice from 6-8 p.m.
He noted that the teams play their 13 seasonal league games at the Newbridge Road Park fields on Friday nights and Sundays and is permitted by the Town of Hempstead. He said the association is attempting to get a division going for 12- and 13-year-old kids John Pinto, former district board member, member of the district’s Field Committee and former North Merrick board member, then declared, by referring to the Field Committee report, that the district is “not doing what we said we’d do in the field report. “There is no mention of closing five fields in that report.
“If we had put in synthetic turf there would be no need to cancel any programs now,” he continued.
He mentioned that state Assemblywoman Earlene Hooper had a bill close to being presented in the state Legislature that would enable school districts to free up to 60% of their accrued liability funds to use for such items as purchasing synthetic turf. “$3 million would take care of it,” he said.
He complimented the district for its aggressive work in maintaining the Merrick Avenue field during spring, but then noted that with lack of watering, “The grass became burnt, and it’s no good right now.”
John Scalisi, director of facilities for the district, bristled at the comment, saying that it was a “wiring problem in the well” that had prevented workers from watering the fields.
He said there was general agreement at a recent facilities conference that hotter-than-usual weather had stressed many fields around the area, and not much could be done to alleviate the stress. He told the board that the district had begun an organic fertilizer program, and had spread 3,000 pounds of grass seed around the fields so far.
Still, parent Jim Santana expressed dismay over the field situation. “This has been going on with these fields for years,” he exclaimed. “My son broke his toe playing on these fields, it’s a safety issue and the community is spending money on something that doesn’t work!”
Expressing sympathies
Trustee Susan Schwartz expressed sympathies on behalf of the board to the teams for the potential loss of sporting activities for children. “We are just as frustrated at finding solutions to help the kids, too. We don’t want to have to take the fields away from the teams.”
Diane Seaman, immediate past-president of the board, then reached out to both Mr. Scalisi and Saul Lerner, director of physical education, athletics, health and driver education for the district, to instruct them to sit down with members of soccer and lacrosse teams to see how they can accommodate the teams.
Mr. Scalisi said that accommodations could certainly be made, but stressed that sacrifices would have to be made all across the board.
Mr. Lerner told Bellmore Life 27 fields are still available for use, but many of them are in use with permitted teams at present. He added that he sat down with the parties and negotiated closing the fields at the end of the teams’ seasons.
Skip Haile, vice-president of Merrick travel soccer, told Bellmore Life after the meeting that he was pleased that the board considered its pleas for working out schedules. “I didn’t think at the beginning of the meeting they would be open,” he said. “We want to maintain an open dialog with the district,” he concluded, so the difficulties can be shared.
Mission accomplished – for now.