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School Committee flips light switch on high school field

Date: 5/1/2012

April 30, 2012

By Chris Maza

chrism@thereminder.com

EAST LONGMEADOW — The East Longmeadow Public School District has been given the go-ahead and the first night game for the renovated high school athletic field will be played on April 30.

Superintendent Gordon Smith told the School Committee at its April 23 meeting that Andrew Dyjak of Musco Sports Lighting LLC has indicated that the lighting upgrade has put the field well within acceptable ranges for footcandles.

"Last Thursday [April 19], we conducted light meter measurements at 72 points on the field," he said. "With the new measurement, our goal was to reach an average of 40 plus footcandles. We are now averaging 45 footcandles."

The field's lighting measured 33 footcandles at the field's darkest point and 66 footcandles at its brightest. By contrast, before the upgrade, the average at the high school field was 23.54.

With this information, the high school's boys lacrosse team has been given the OK to host the field's first-ever night contest against Belchertown at 7 p.m.

"We are ready to play all sports under the lights," Smith said.

No night games took place in the fall because of the lighting issues.

When the project was first being planned, the town was presented a proposal for a Proposition 2 1/2 override for the athletics upgrade project, which included improved lighting, permanent striping and a midfield logo on the new synthetic turf athletic field, resurfacing of the track, the purchase of new track and field equipment, a new 500-seat bleacher for visitors, a new four-foot high fence around the track and the installation of three water cannons to wet the field.

The town voted against the override in a special election after a warrant article passed at a Special Town Meeting.

The School Committee was able to fund four of the nine items in the proposal — the lined playing surface, the track, complete with a Plexitrac surface, new track and field equipment and the new fence — by using surplus funds that would have otherwise been returned to the town. The boosters also donated the cash to have the Spartans' logo painted on the field.

However, once those were completed, Musco told the district that because light poles had been moved back to accommodate the upgrades, the lighting on the field was below industry standards. Because of this report, Smith determined that no night games would be played until lighting the lighting was improved.

Former School Committee member Joseph Cabrera submitted a petition for a Special Town Meeting with 500 signatures at which residents voted overwhelmingly to appropriate $115,000 from free cash to complete the lighting upgrade. The installation of the new lighting was completed at a cost of approximately $105,000.

In addition to the added brightness, Smith said a test of the lights' remote monitoring system was successful. The remote monitoring system notifies Musco of problems with the lights, which are under warrantee for 25 years.

"With this system, they can tell there's a problem faster than we would even be aware of it," Smith said.

***


Theresa Olejarz, assistant superintendent for business, also told the School Committee at the meeting that the Finance Sub-committee has opted to move $49,000 in surplus monies to plug gaps in other aspects of the budget.

Among the largest transfers are $20,000 for the revolving account for transportation and fuel costs and $15,000 to cover shortfalls in the athletic equipment revolving fund.

Olejarz explained that the loss of revenue at the gate because of the lack of night games made the $15,000 transfer necessary. Losses at the gate equaled nearly $7,500 and the district also saw a jump in the number of students receiving free or reduced-cost lunches. Those students are not privy to the district's athletic fees.

***


The School Committee completed its reorganization, electing Richard Freccero 4-0 as the new chair. Freccero abstained from the vote. Elizabeth Marsian-Boucher was re-elected unanimously as the board's vice chair.

Freccero replaces Gregory Thompson in the position.

"It was a pleasure to sit as chair. Thank you for putting me in this position. I think we were able to accomplish a lot in that time," Thompson said.



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