The WW-P school board seems to be on board with an idea by two residents to create a nonprofit athletic foundation to help fund the district’s athletics facilities, although board members emphasized that school policies would need to be reworked as a result.##M:[more]##
Residents Pat Boyle and Manny Efstathios had approached the board last month to gauge the board’s feelings on the matter before moving ahead with setting up an athletic foundation — or by fundraising under the auspices of the West Windsor Plainsboro Education Foundation. The first project they had in mind was helping to fund the lighting of two new turf fields at both high schools.
The board suggested the first step would be for Boyle and Efstathios to meet with the facilities committee to work on updating the advertising/banner policy. Then they should engage the neighbors around the schools, develop a preliminary plan for the lights, and organizing the 501c3 (or setting it up within the WWPEF) — all recommendations that came from discussion at the June 9 meeting.
The two residents have said they want to either set up a 501c3 nonprofit organization as stand alone entity, separate from the school district, or organize it under the WWPEF, already a separate nonprofit for fundraising. They said they had experience in fundraising for lights at other fields in both communities, including at Community Park in West Windsor. They also have experience in working with community sports organizations like the soccer and lacrosse leagues, they said.
At the previous meeting, the men told the board that there would be three key differences to make it stand out from similar efforts that have failed in the past. The first was coordinating the efforts with the district so it would not get in the way of the booster clubs or any other organization within the school district. Second, the types of fundraising efforts would be different, including ideas of holding a golf outing and a home tour. The third idea would be to create a Hall of Fame dinner, which could also serve as a fundraiser.
Boyle and Efstathios told the board they understood and would follow the rules and stipulations as suggested by the school board.
During the June 9 meeting, Efstathios told the board he had met with both principals, athletic director Marty Flynn, the administration committee, and the finance committee to discuss their ideas, all of whom seemed to be on board with the idea.
Board Vice President Robert Johnson, however, said he worried that even though the board would not be involved in the fundraising, that the foundation’s fundraising efforts could possibly interfere with the board’s policy not to allow advertising on any of its athletic fields, including exclusive licensing, and hanging banners on the fields that would represent private interests outside of the district.
If the foundation were to pursue a fundraising route that included those things, the board would have to come up with a policy and guidelines to address these concerns, he said. There might also be roadblocks with getting things, like lighting, approved by the Planning Boards in West Windsor and Plainsboro, which have zoning laws that need to be followed.
He did say, however, that he was behind the idea, and that he found in research that new technology has enabled field lighting to be created in a way in which it minimizes light pollution to neighbors and has become more energy efficient, including timers on the lights that immediately shut off at certain times.
The quality of life for neighbors, particularly at High School South, which is surrounded, in part, by a residential neighborhood, were also concerns raised by other board members.
Board member Alapakkam Manikandan asked “What’s going to be the obligation to the district?” He also said “there would also be an ongoing concern of maintenance.” Also, “what are we missing by not having these lights on?” he asked.
In response, both Flynn and Efstathios explained that it would ease the athletic department’s difficulty in scheduling and rescheduling games, especially in light of inclement weather combined with limited use of the fields during certain seasons, when daylight does not last as long.
Having the lights would give the athletic department the ability to hold two extra games each night, Flynn added. Other organizations, like the schools’ bands, would also be able to practice at night after games.
While Efstathios admitted that it would make things easier for the athletic foundation to raise money if the board changed its policy regarding advertising, the men maintained that they would address all of the board’s concerns. “All the points you bring up, we would like to have in place before the fundraising,” Efstathios said.
High School South Principal Charles Rudnick, who lives near a school football field with lights in his own town, said he had always been opposed to the idea of lighting the football fields, mostly for the concerns neighbors might have. However, “I really think they’re doing it the right way,” he said.
Board members were still concerned about the neighbors’ feelings on the lights, and asked whether Boyle and Efstathios had approached neighbors yet to gather their input. While they have not yet done so, they indicated that they would send letters to residents in the neighborhood and also would be willing to sit down and work with the residents who might have concerns before getting started.
Other business. In other business during the board’s June 9 meeting, former West Windsor councilwoman Jackie Alberts urged members to start holding earlier public discussions on next year’s budget.
The board should also be looking at actions taken by other educational institutions in response to the economy, Alberts said. “In order to continue their mission of academic excellence, some of the leading universities in this country and some of the finest school districts” have taken certain steps to reduce their budgets. Those included freezing faculty and staff pay, which included re-negotiation of union contracts; reduction of 10 percent of all administrative pay and expenses; offering early retirement incentives; leaving positions unfilled to avoid staff reductions; and reducing debt through the elimination or restaging of capital projects and/or debt refinancing.
“WW-P must take the same painful steps,” she said. “This year’s budget process must start with the assumption that we cannot ask taxpayers struggling with reduced economic prospects to pass budgets with operating and capital cost increases.”
Alberts also expressed concern about High School North’s graduation, which will be held at Rider University on Friday, June 19. There had been a five-ticket limit imposed for family members. However, South, which is holding its graduation at the Sovereign Bank Arena on the same day, does not have a ticket limit.
“How did South get the arena instead of North?” she asked. “Why is South again being favored above North? In addition to the equity issue, the ticket limitation places an unfair burden on North’s families. We are being forced to decide which grandparent can not attend the graduation of their first grandchild. Should we refuse grandma, who was in the delivery room the day she was born, or grandpa, whose health may prevent him from seeing another graduation?”
She said she tried going to the principal, then to the administration, up to the superintendent, but no one offered any remedies.
“This district violated the first rule of event planning, which is to size the capacity of the venue to the participants.” Board members did not respond to her comment.
In other business during the meeting, the board awarded a bid for tennis court resurfacing at High School North to American Tennis Courts Inc. for $168,”525.
The board also approved various change orders to work done at High School South. Those change orders included $4,”787 to Comfort Mechanical Corp. for the cleaning of HVAC units and changing filters for 14 rooftop units; $14,”798 to Dandrea Construction Inc. for installing asphalt infill between the track and retaining wall in lieu of grass; and $5,”601 to RC Fabricators Inc. for replacing an underground fitting that was broken during the course of work.
