Night games?

Class sizes and the new lights at the high school field were the two controversial topics that the Board of Education took up at its meeting last week.

Board members discussed slight revisions to the Class Balancing Act they passed last year, which allowed elementary students who were in classes that were in danger of becoming crowded to transfer to a different school. And Trustee John O’Shea sparked a heated discussion when he proposed changes to the board’s policy on the new lights at the South Side High School field.

Friday night ‘no-lights’

O’Shea presented to his fellow board members a petition with 200 signatures of residents who want the board’s lighting policy expanded. Under the current policy, which was adopted in 2007, the lights will be used only during the fall and spring sports seasons, until 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday and until 9 on Fridays if there is a game finishing up. No game can begin later than 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 5:30 on Friday. The lights cannot be used at all on weekends.

The policy was adopted as a way to make the lights more palatable to South Side’s neighbors, who were concerned about light encroaching on their properties during night games.

“We had many discussions, and the lighting policy was discussed extensively, because there were people who were not for the lights,” said board President Liz Dion. “They were very concerned about the lights and what it would do the neighborhood. And we consistently responded to them that we had a very strong lighting policy.”

O’Shea, who was not on the board when the lighting policy was adopted in 2007, argued that it was so restrictive that it was wasting the potential of the lights and the new field that will be installed. He added that a 5:30 start for Friday games would be too early for many families to come and support the local teams.

“The lacrosse team just paid $700 to play a night game at Adelphi University because they wanted alumni and community members to be able to come to that game,” O’Shea said. “And if you start at 5:30 in the afternoon, you don’t allow for things like that to happen, because people are still working.” He said that he and his wife have had trouble making it to 5:30 games because they both work.

A 7 p.m. start, O’Shea said, would be a true night game — something Rockville Centre has never had. And it would give more families a chance to catch a game. “A 7 p.m. start is what our teams go to in other communities, which allows the families and the community to get involved,” he said. “The 5:30 start would not let that happen. So then it just becomes a game played under the lights, not a night game. It’s a whole different feel and a whole different perspective.”

Board Vice President Mark Masin said it was too early to be making changes to the lighting policy, especially because the lights have yet to be used for a game. “Before we start changing something, lets have one whistle blown on the field,” he said. “Let there be one down played. Let there be one goal scored.”

Balancing act

The board also began discussing slight revisions of the Class Balance Act. The controversial act, which was passed last year, allowed parents of elementary school children who were going to be in classes of 23 or more to transfer their children to a different school with smaller classes. The students would be bused to their new school at no cost to the parents or the district. More than a dozen families took advantage of the policy.

The main change to the policy would allow students whose families move within the district to stay at their original elementary school instead of switching schools if that school had smaller classes.

In most cases, explained Dr. Noreen Leahy, assistant superintendent of special education, when families move within the district, they appeal to have their children stay at their original school. Those appeals are decided by a panel that Leahy creates, which makes recommendations to the superintendent about whether the children should stay at their original school.

Dion pointed out that the board would not make any final decisions about elementary class sizes until the school walk-through, which is usually scheduled for the Thursday before school opens. She added that if parents decide to move their children to a different school and then their original school creates another class, they will be able to return.

“Last year, [the act was passed] in July,” Dion said. “And this year, we decided that if we were going to [reauthorize] it, we wanted to do it a lot earlier. We didn’t want to do it in the middle of the summer. It was never really intended to be that way; that was just the way it happened.”

The board tabled the discussion on both topics, and it will continue at the next meeting, on May 28, at 7:30 p.m., in Room 112 of South Side High School. Residents will be able to offer their opinions on the issues.