Artificial turf on Central agenda for Feb. 16 meeting

At the Jan. 5 meeting of the Central High School District Board of Education, Eric Strezenec, the father of a Calhoun High School athlete, called on the board to offer exact figures on the cost of installing three synthetic-turf fields at Calhoun, Kennedy and Mepham high schools, including how much the project would raise local property taxes.

Strezenec said he has made the request a number of times before, but has not yet received an answer.

Board of Education President Nina Lanci said the district would release the figures at a Feb. 16 hearing on the district’s 2011-12 budget. When Strezenec insisted that the district release the figures sooner rather than later, Lanci responded, “You need to come to the Feb. 16 meeting, and you will hear all the information about that.”

A group of parents, mostly fathers and mothers of Calhoun athletes, have lobbied the Board of Education in recent years to install artificial-turf fields at the three high schools because, they say, grass fields do not stand up well to constant use, particularly when they are wet. Architects hired by the district have projected the cost of three synthetic fields at roughly $3 million, but to date the district has not provided figures on how the proposal might affect property taxes.

“To me, it’s a little embarrassing that we don’t have figures,” Board Trustee Jonathan Butler said. “We need to have closure on this issue.” As he has previously, Butler suggested that the proposal be put up for a public vote.

Trustee Susan Schwartz said the board has taken considerable time to weigh the pros and cons of artificial-turf fields because they are so expensive. “It takes a while to make a decision,” Schwartz said. “We have to look at everything.”

Trustee Janet Goller said that, financially, “The future looks very, very bleak … We have to worry about even maintaining what we have. I’ve always been an advocate of the athletics programs … but sometimes we can’t get everything we want.”

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