As they have at recent Central District Board of Education sessions, roughly a half-dozen parents and members of a recently formed, ad hoc community group, Time for Turf, spoke again at the Oct. 7 board meeting, reiterating their desire to see artificial-turf football fields at Calhoun, Kennedy and Mepham high schools.

And, they said, they're not going away.

In two recent meetings at which Time for Turf members spoke, they were unchallenged in their calls for synthetic-turf fields, with Central District officials primarily listening to their concerns and, most recently, forming a district committee to examine ways to improve all of Central's 31 athletic fields at its three high schools and two middle schools.

This time, the calls for artificial turf were met by vocal opposition from Fred Kleiman, a local resident. Repeatedly noting the per-field cost for synthetic turf of more than $1 million, Kleiman said it would be "fiscally irresponsible" of the Central District to consider such a proposal, given that it would likely mean a property-tax increase amid a deep recession.

"Isn't there something else we can spend $1 million on?" he asked.

Dr. Henry Kiernan, the Central District superintendent, has not taken a public position for or against artificial-turf fields. During last week's meeting, he said, "I'd like to see new bathrooms in some of our schools. I'd like to see new science labs."

Skip Haile, a founding member of Time for Turf, said in an interview that the group has three active members, including Anthony Calamusa and Frank Acuna, in addition to Haile, but is able to bring dozens of other parents to meetings through local youth groups. Haile said he asks parents to attend Board of Education meetings to listen.

He had said earlier that the group was creating a Web site, timeforturf.org, to promote its campaign to bring artificial-turf fields to the Bellmore-Merrick district. The site is currently under construction. The main page, designed with a soccer ball resting on a presumably artificial-grass field, states, "Time for Turf is helping schools make their field conditions safer for kids to play on every day."