Synthetic-turf battle heats up

As they have at recent Central District Board of Education sessions, roughly a half-dozen parents and members of a recently formed, ad hoc community group, Time for Turf, spoke again at the Oct. 7 board meeting, reiterating their desire to see artificial-turf football fields at Calhoun, Kennedy and Mepham high schools.

And, they said, they're not going away.

In two recent meetings at which Time for Turf members spoke, they were unchallenged in their calls for synthetic-turf fields, with Central District officials primarily listening to their concerns and, most recently, forming a district committee to examine ways to improve all of Central's 31 athletic fields at its three high schools and two middle schools.

This time, the calls for artificial turf were met by vocal opposition from Fred Kleiman, a local resident. Repeatedly noting the per-field cost for synthetic turf of more than $1 million, Kleiman said it would be "fiscally irresponsible" of the Central District to consider such a proposal, given that it would likely mean a property-tax increase amid a deep recession.

"Isn't there something else we can spend $1 million on?" he asked.

Dr. Henry Kiernan, the Central District superintendent, has not taken a public position for or against artificial-turf fields. During last week's meeting, he said, "I'd like to see new bathrooms in some of our schools. I'd like to see new science labs."

Skip Haile, a founding member of Time for Turf, said in an interview that the group has three active members, including Anthony Calamusa and Frank Acuna, in addition to Haile, but is able to bring dozens of other parents to meetings through local youth groups. Haile said he asks parents to attend Board of Education meetings to listen.

He had said earlier that the group was creating a Web site, timeforturf.org, to promote its campaign to bring artificial-turf fields to the Bellmore-Merrick district. The site is currently under construction. The main page, designed with a soccer ball resting on a presumably artificial-grass field, states, "Time for Turf is helping schools make their field conditions safer for kids to play on every day."

At last Wednesday's meeting, Calamusa said that there is simply "too much traffic" on Central's grass fields during after-school sports and in phys. ed. classes, so the grass wears down, which, he said, he believes is unsafe and unseemly.

"I implore the board to use the [district's] unreserved funds to fix the fields," Calamusa said.

Cynthia Regal, Bellmore-Merrick's assistant superintendent for business, said the Central District has a little more than $4 million in undesignated reserve funds.

Janet Goller, a Central District trustee, said of that $4 million, "These are our emergency, rainy-day funds. We have to have some backup money ... We cannot deplete that fund."

Calamusa said he wondered why the district formed a committee to explore installation of artificial-turf fields. "Why not form a committee for the tracks and tennis courts?" he asked.

Kiernan said the committee was formed because of the enormity of the task at hand -- making recommendations on 31 playing fields, not only on whether synthetic-turf football fields should be installed. "It's not just three fields, three high schools," Kiernan said. "It's much larger."

The district's 22-member fields committee, headed by Athletic Director Saul Lerner and Facilities Director John Scalisi, has met once since school began, and will continue meeting once a month through February. At that time, the committee is expected to make a set of recommendations on the district’s fields to the superintendent, who will then report to the Board of Education. John Pinto, a North Merrick Board of Education trustee and former Central District trustee, who originally called for synthetic-turf fields in 2006-07, is a committee member.

How districts have paid for artificial turf

The following is a list of Nassau County high schools that have artificial-turf fields and how districts have paid for them -- private donations, government grants or district bonds. Of Nassau's 57 high schools, 15 -- or 24 percent -- have synthetic-turf fields.

School officials note that a district that bonds for an artificial-turf field is obligated to pay interest over the life of the bond. They also point out that districts generally bond capital projects for 20 to 30 years, but the usable life of a synthetic-turf field is eight to 10 years.

School Source of funding

Bethpage High School Town of Oyster Bay

Cold Spring Harbor H.S. Private donation

Farmingdale H.S. Private donation, government grant

Garden City H.S. School district, government grant

Hewlett H.S. Private donation

Lawrence H.S. (yet to be built) District bond

Levittown H.S., Division H.S. No information

Long Beach H.S. Bond

Manhasset H.S. Bond

Oceanside H.S. Bond

Port Washington H.S. Fundraising donations, government grant

Roslyn H.S. No information

Seaford H.S. District bond

Wantagh H.S. District bond

Wheatley H.S. No information

Natural artificial turf?

At last week's Central District Board of Education meeting, a representative of the artificial-turf company GeoTurf made a presentation.

Most artificial-turf fields are lead-lined sheets of plastic grass, with ground-up tires used as infill to soften the surface. GeoTurf manufactures a lead-free plastic sheet with an “organic” infill. The company states on its Web site that it has been endorsed by the Green Energy Council for its "eco-friendly products and services."

A GeoTurf synthetic field is roughly the same price as other artificial-turf fields -- $800,000 to $1 million, according to the GeoTurf representative.