Who Will Care for School Playing Fields?

A lacrosse jamboree was held on the football field at Wolfe Park one recent weekend, with cleats trampling the grass and kicking up dirt for hours.

Once the Parks & Recreation Department's maintenance crew did its work, Director David Freedman said not a blade of grass was out of place by the following Monday.

"If you drive by Wolfe Park or have been on the fields, you see the quality of these fields," Freedman said.

Board of Education members want the town crews to use their green thumbs on playing fields at the Monroe's public schools as well.

Freedman said taking better care of the school fields presents an economic opportunity, because schools and fields are things people moving to Monroe "gravitate to."

"I think what we need to overcome with Parks & Recreation taking over the fields, is that the schools should have control over the use," Board of Education member Mark Hughes said during a recent meeting of the board's Policy Committee.

"They do during school hours," he added.

Freedman said school scheduling will have first priority on school fields, just as Parks & Recreation programs do at Wolfe Park.

Saving money

Parks & Recreation Commission Chairman Frank S. Bent said the town is proposing to maintain the entire grounds on school campuses, rather than just the playing fields.

"It's up to you," Bent said. "It's a higher cost. Fertilization, shrubbery maintenance, pruning of trees ... Public Works would still handle snow removal."

"You said it may cost more," Hughes said, "but we're just transferring money from education to the town, so it's not gonna cost more."

"It will probably cost less," Bent added.

"It would make sense for Parks & Recreation to do this," Hughes said, adding more central control of playing fields could prevent scheduling conflicts.

Board of Education member Mark Antonazzi expressed concern that any fertilizer used would not be harmful to children, and Freedman assured him his department follows strict safety guidelines for use of fertilizer and insecticides.

"There's a question over whether we have enough fields and whether we're using them in the best way," Assistant Superintendent Richard Canfield said.

"This will allow us to look at all of the fields and allocate them to help everybody," Freedman said.

Expansion of some fields may also be an option, according to Freedman, who said the town only has two baseball fields whose dimensions have 90-foot diamonds.

The plan

Superintendent of Schools Colleen Palmer asked Freedman and Bent to come up with a plan for the maintenance of Stepney, Fawn Hollow and Monroe elementary schools, Chalk Hill and Jockey Hollow Middle School - but to hold off on Masuk.

"I would see this as a two-step approach," she said. "Let's do all five schools first and do it well."

Palmer said this is because high school coaches have individual preferences.

"Masuk is a beast of its own," Freedman said.

Parks & Recreation will submit a field maintenance proposal to the Board of Education at its first meeting of September.

"The only thing I need to check on is the current contract for lawn service for the district," Palmer said. "We're in a good place."