By:JOSEPH KELLARD
Reconstruction of the football field, practice field and baseball infield, and the installation of irrigation at each field at OHS, will start around July 1, 2006, and are slated to be completed Oct. 31, Lou Frontario, assistant superintendent, said at the school board meeting Jan. 31. Frontario, who oversees the district's construction projects, said the football and other fields would not return to service until March 1, 2007.
"At this point, we are discussing having the football games at School 6 at Merle Avenue," Frontario said. He noted that a bleacher system would be rented, and that the homecoming parade would start at the high school and end at School 6.
Insofar as practices and some fall sports games would be impacted by the reconstruction, the district is seeking a permit to use Oceanside Park, and may also use some elementary school fields that are available.
Meanwhile, reconstruction will begin this June on the OHS baseball outfield and the entire softball field, and irrigation will be installed at the same time. The work is expected to be completed around Oct. 31, and the fields will be back in service by March 1, 2006.
"We'll be planting sod at a perfect time, in the fall, and we want to make sure it takes root," Frontario said. "And so it will definitely not impact on the spring sports schedule in that regard. But it does have some impact on the fall."
During this same time, reconstruction will be done at the football field, and irrigation work will be done to the applicable fields at the middle school. These fields will be expected back in service by March 15, 2006.
"The football team will have to have off-site games in 2005," Frontario said. "We're not sure yet where, but we're working on formalizing that."
At the same time that work at the OHS football field gets started in June 2006, reconstruction work will begin at the OMS lacrosse fields, baseball and softball fields, with irrigation work as needed. They are expected back in service by March 15, 2007. Until then, soccer and lacrosse games and practices will be held off site.
The school board included the reconstruction of these fields in its $31 million bond for district-wide building reconstruction and upgrades that the community voted to approve in January 2003.
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