Thursday, October 1, 2026
Student athletes in the North Shore School District may be running on a new track and playing football under Friday-night lights as early as next year, as the administration presented plans to upgrade athletic facilities and district infrastructure.
The Board of Education held its first work session since the pandemic on Monday night to review a wide range of planned capital projects, with sports facilities and infrastructure dominating the discussion. Administrators and trustees explained financing options and the long-term budgeting impact of a proposed $14 million bond, with a total project cost of about $16 million, including “soft” costs.
Jamie Pappas, the district’s assistant superintendent of business, and Matthew Backes, director of facilities, presented detailed updates on the project costs, engineering reports and vendor consultations. Superintendent Chris Zublionis thanked them for “the enormous amount of work” involved in compiling estimates and documentation in recent weeks.
The district’s capital plan is currently divided into two categories. One set of projects would be funded by the existing capital reserve, with no additional tax impact but still requiring voter approval. The second, larger list would be part of a bond referendum, also requiring voter approval.
Under the capital reserve proposal, the district plans to replace the high school track and install stadium lights at the high school athletic complex. The track, Backes said, has reached the end of its useful life.
“Fixing the track is a no-brainer,” Board President Andrea Maccari said. “I think all of the trustees can agree with that.”
Backes described the extensive work underway to determine whether drainage or subsurface issues contributed to the track’s longstanding problems with bubbling. He explained that members of the facilities department had examined the track, and found that the issue may stem from improper placement.
“When they took the samples, it was very interesting that we were able to peel the rubber right off of the asphalt,” Backes said. “It should have adhered better.”
The district is now awaiting final engineering reports. The track replacement estimate ranges from $1 million to $1.5 million, depending on whether underlying asphalt and subbase must also be replaced. Backes noted that the plans include updates requested by track coach Neal Levy, among them removing an unused long jump pit to lengthen the remaining one.
“We put a lot of thought into the track,” Backes said. “I think we’re going to end up making everybody happy.”
If the plan is approved, the track is expected to be replaced next summer, with the goal of reopening for the fall 2026 season. The other major capital reserve item presented Monday was the installation of stadium lights at the high school. Zublionis said the district has studied the latest lighting technology used at neighboring high schools, and emphasized that it sharply limits backlighting and light pollution.
The preliminary plan calls for four 80-foot poles located around the field. Trustees questioned the height and suggested exploring alternatives involving shorter poles, and more of them. District officials said they could revisit the design with the vendor.
The board also discussed the possibility of positioning speakers so that sound is directed away from neighboring homes. Backes said the district could mount speakers on the light poles, facing the bleachers, or add speakers to the scoreboard. Several trustees noted that residents already use the track for walking and running at night. Trustee Lisa Colacioppo described talking with a parent who “has been running the track at night with a headlamp on. She would love some light.”
Beyond the capital reserve items, administrators reviewed a longer list of building needs expected to appear on the bond referendum. They include air conditioning for the elementary and middle schools, elevator replacements, upgrades to elementary-school music rooms, renovations of the Glen Head School gathering room to increase seating capacity, and an auditorium ceiling replacement at the high school.
The board also reviewed three options for reconfiguring the high school and middle school athletic fields, which include replacing grass with artificial turf on sections or the entirety of the multipurpose baseball and softball fields. Proposed work includes leveling and adding drainage to the middle school fields, and installing fencing and removing shrubbery along the lower field.
The money the district currently budgets annually for capital projects, funded largely by the elimination of previous debt, would be repurposed to cover the first two years’ bond payments, making the initial years tax-neutral. Over the following two years, the district projects modest increases in bond payments would need to be absorbed through cuts elsewhere in the budget, not through tax increases.
By the fifth year, Pappas said, additional older debt would begin to fall off, resulting in declining costs and restored fiscal flexibility. The board will vote on the initial adoption of the bond project, as well as the redistributions of the capital reserve, pending residents’ approval, at its Dec. 11 meeting, at 7:45 p.m. in the North Shore Middle School cafeteria.
