Thursday, October 1, 2026
Kevin Trentowski admitted with much enthusiasm that he could talk about the Oyster Bay-East Norwich School District’s new turf field all day long.
“This is like my baby,” the director of health, physical education and athletics said. “I’m blown away by this turf field. And I feel a tremendous sense of pride for the school district.”
Trentowski had broached the subject of having a turf field at James H. Vernon in 2018, and a fact finding mission followed. He wanted to make Vernon’s field a varsity facility, he said, and add free standing restrooms, a concession stand and a score board.
OBENSD has six lacrosse teams and two middle school baseball teams among its many other athletic teams. The baseball teams had been utilizing a field at Theodore Roosevelt Elementary School and other teams, including the football team, were playing at the field in Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Park, which sometimes flooded. The district shared the use of this field with St. Dominic’s schools and other youth groups. Scheduling, Trentowski said, could be difficult with overlapping occurring at times. It just was not safe, he said.
Funding for the turf field — $2,510,000 from a Capital Reserve Fund — was approved by the public in 2019, along with the school budget.
The restrooms, scoreboard and concession stand were completed first in 2019 and the field itself followed in September 2020. A ribbon cutting was held on Nov. 20. Although it was cold, Board of Education President Laurie Kowalsky said the district wanted to be sure that Superintendent Dr. Laura Seinfeld was able to be there. She is retiring this year.
“Dr. Seinfeld was part of the process getting the field along with Mr. Trentowski,” Kowalsky said. “She assisted in having the changes we wanted made.”
The ribbon cutting was celebratory, with a few musical numbers played by the band and speakers who shared why the new turf field meant so much to them.
“Oyster Bay has given us an incredible new home,” said Noah Rudnet, a senior who is on the soccer, fencing and lacrosse teams. “The field has given us another harbor in which to anchor down”
Gaby Treble, a senior athlete in soccer, track and basketball will be attending Quinnipiac where she will play soccer. She said she had played on the field at Vernon since she was three and is looking forward to “breaking in the new field” once sports are allowed in 2021.
Trentowski said the turf field has given the district a home field that can be used for soccer, lacrosse, field hockey, football and softball. In October the turf field was used by physical education classes.
“The new field allows for us to add two events to our track program,” he said. “There is now a runway for pole vaulting and a steeple pit for the steeple chase. We also redid our high jump area.”
The field is nice, Kowalsky said, adding that it is too bad the pandemic is upon us. High school sports are on hold in Nassau and Suffolk counties due to Covid-19. “It’s very exciting for me to hear the kids say how excited they are to play on the field,” she said. “Seeing it all come together has been very exciting for me.”
