Lights at Glen Rock High School field added to options

glen rock gazette file photo

The Glen Rock Board of Education is discussing the possibility of adding lights to the Glen Rock High School all-purpose field, which was renovated in 2012.

The possible installation of lights at the Glen Rock High School all-purpose field emerged at the Board of Education's June 23 public meeting.

In a new element of talks principally aimed at the improvement of girls softball fields at Coleman Elementary School, the high school lighting tie-in was broached last week by trustees in tandem with a natural grass solution at Coleman, rather than the previously contemplated $1.2 million synthetic surface there.

The new alternative was recommended to the BOE Operations Committee by district Superintendent Paula Valenti, with the support of Athletic Director Frank Violante, according to committee chair Elizabeth Carr.

Officials emphasized that should such a proposal move forward, it would not materialize until the summer of 2015, following full BOE analysis and public outreach and input beginning in the fall, notably involving residents who live in the immediate vicinity of the high school field.

BOE President Sheldon Hirschberg said his hope is that at the next BOE meeting on July 7, "We can vote on a way forward on our fields. There are two topics here: We need to fix the Coleman Field, and our administration is (also) strongly in favor of putting lights at our football (all-purpose) field."

Having called for the June 23 discussion in a prior email to board members, Hirschberg said, "I think this is the kind of issue that deserves the (full board's) attention. I'm not asking for a vote tonight because I think we should first put this in the public domain, so that residents who are for or opposed to it can reach out to any and all of us."

Officials supporting the idea cited the improvement at Coleman, the expanded scheduling capacity at the high school venue, and the cost. The high school lighting was estimated at $300,000 to $350,000. Combined with $427,000 already in the district's capital budget based on the original plan to sod Coleman, the two projects would top out far below the synthetic turf alternative alone - an amount that would revert to the district's capital reserve, according to Business Administrator/Board Secretary Michael Rinderknecht.

Carr kicked off the June 23 discussion, noting that while she had previously supported the synthetic turf option, the multiple benefits, natural grass solution and financial aspect of the new alternative proposed by the district administrators changed her mind.

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Lights at Glen Rock High School field added to options