Running clubs’ denials prompt policy suspension

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After two Baldwin-based track teams were denied permits to practice on Baldwin schools’ tracks over the summer due to a district buildings and grounds policy, their coaches looked for answers as to why.

Annie Doresca, of the VTesse Track Club, and Chandel Brown, of the Baldwin Blazers, each had permits denied to use the district’s tracks this summer after they were approved for the same use last summer.

Following a lengthy discussion at a special board meeting on March 30 where the use of facilities was on the agenda, the Board of Education suspended its policy, contingent on several guidelines, to allow youth sports organization to utilize the district facilities.

Mary Anne Sadowski, a district attorney, said the district’s existing policy on the subject was not clear and seemed to use the words “facilities,” “grounds,” “buildings” and “school buildings” interchangeably.

The permits were denied because the existing policy prohibits outside organizations from using the grounds in the summer and on Sundays. Doresca’s track club, which she said adheres to all insurance requirements and has more than 50 percent of its participants from Baldwin, had its permit initially approved but then denied a few weeks later.

“We noticed that it was an oversight that we approved that,” said Russ Randazzo, the district’s facilities director. “We don’t usually get a lot of use in the summer anyway.”

Trustee Deborah Rebore was the most vocal board member in support of the track clubs. “People have been planning their sports and activities since last summer,” she said. “To say ‘now we’re going to start enforcing it’ leaves a lot of kids and groups with nothing to do.”

Doresca and Brown noted that each team looks to send runners to a Junior Olympics event in late July, so not having a track to practice on over the summer would cripple their programs. Doresca asked the board to approve the permits and reshape the policy in the coming months. “When you roll out the policy,” she said, “whether it’s rolled out in September or rolled out in January, then we’ll start fresh.”

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