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Agrees to share services, prohibit student parking at Fireman's Field
Possibly signaling the beginning of an end to tensions between two of the village's municipal entities, the Rockville Centre Board of Education signed agreements with the Village of Rockville Centre to share services and govern use of Fireman’s Memorial Field at South Side High School during its Preliminary Budget Hearing on April 20.
The two documents—a general cooperative agreement and one specifically for the use of Fireman’s Field—outline how the school district and village will share services with the goal of keeping costs down for taxpayers. The new municipal cooperation agreement replaces a previous agreement, forged some 20 years ago, that won the village an award as a paradigm of municipal cooperation.
Directly addressing concerns that have arisen over the months during which the two boards tried to come to terms, the municipal agreement mainly outlines facilities usage between the district and the village. It enables the village to use school facilities in the summer and the school district to use village playing fields for team practice — items that had become bargaining chips in each side's efforts to persuade the other side to come to terms.
According to school board President Mark Masin, the municipal agreement is nearly identical to past agreements signed by the district and village.
“We’re going to establish cooperative use of facilities and services, and we will certainly allow the village to run their summer recreational program,” said Masin, adding that there will be reciprocal use by the school district of village property.
The biggest change comes in the form of the new document that outlines the use of parking at Fireman’s Field. Under the new agreement, students would be prohibited from parking on Fireman’s Field, making it specifically a lot for teachers, staff and adult visitors. The field will be open from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays. The agreement also says that the school district will be continue to be responsible for the cleaning and general maintenance of the field.
