Central District moves to limit field use

At a July 13 public meeting, the Bellmore-Merrick Central Board of Education announced that it would allow only Central District teams to play on its five main football fields, thereby prohibiting youth groups from using the fields for football, soccer, lacrosse and other sports.

District officials said youth groups would continue to be allowed to use Central's 37 other fields. The reasoning behind limiting use is to give the grass a chance to re-grow.

Youth group officials, who had complained of poor field conditions, protested the decision, saying it would mean loss of the fall season for a number of community teams. The five fields in question are the football fields at Calhoun, Kennedy and Mepham high schools, as well as Merrick Avenue and Grand Avenue middle schools.

As a compromise, district officials decided on July 14 to allow use of the fields at the middle schools through Oct. 31, giving teams a chance to find alternate fields. The district, though, will still only allow Central teams to use the high school fields.

Saul Lerner, the Central District athletic director, said the youth groups were notified recently of the decision to limit use of the fields. "They said it's not enough time to make alternative arrangements," Lerner said in a phone interview. "They assumed they were going to get the fields they have always gotten."

Lerner continued, "The board and the superintendent [Henry Kiernan] are very sympathetic to the youth groups in the community, and we want to work with them the best we can. So we're really trying to make every effort to make sure every child is accommodated at every level, but everyone needs to understand that the fields need to rest."

Lerner said the fields are overused and cannot sustain the type of wear and tear that they endure. Central District teams use the fields two to three hours per day and only a couple of hours on weekends. Youth groups, Lerner said, use the fields almost all day on Saturdays and Sundays.

After Oct. 31, all five fields will be off limits, Lerner said. He noted, though, that the district may be willing to revisit use of the middle school fields sometime in the future. "We'll see how the fields progress," he said.