West Hempstead School Board Gives Home Teams Field Advantage

The West Hempstead School Board closed the books on the ongoing field-use debate, revising the policy to provide exclusive use to hometown teams, but opened up discussions on budgetary concerns Tuesday night.

The auditorium of West Hempstead High School was filled with the usual suspects for the Feb. 15 meeting - school board members, administrators, parents and teachers clad in red shirts protesting their lack of a contract - plus some less familiar faces. Many families who participate on West Hempstead-based sports teams came to show they cared about one particular issue on the agenda - a policy regarding what sports groups have the right to use the district's fields and facilities.

This has been one that the board has looked at, revised, and voted on in the past. However, after receiving much backlash from members of the community, especially coaches and parents active in West Hempstead sports who are worried that outside groups will now snatch up what little field time they had available, the board decided it was time to tweak the language of the policy again.

KEEP OUT: HOME TEAMS WIN EXCLUSIVE RIGHT TO DISTRICT FIELDS

The members of the board had little to say about the field-use issue Tuesday night, after discussing the matter at length last week during a policy meeting that was open to the public. ( to see what they had to say.)

Some concerned parents did pose their questions and voice their final views on the issue to the board during the public commentary portion before the matter was put to a vote.

Loraine Magaraci, a mother of three West Hempstead students, asked Board President Pamela Lotito to read the revised policy that was on the table aloud to the audience.

The new language placed the following requirements on those wishing to use district facilities. 

"Atleast 80 percent of the members shall be residents of the West Hempstead Union Free School District," Lotito read. Formerly, this requirement was applied to a team but not the entire league.

"And 2: It's principle place of business must located within the geographic area covered by the West Hempstead Union Free School District," she read, a new addition to the policy.

Upon request of the school district, groups may be required to submit rosters, including all addresses, and residency documents or run the risk of having their permit revoked.

The policy includes one exception. "The PTA, PTSA and SEPTA, which have administrators, faculty and professional staff as members are exempt from the 80-percent rule."

Magaraci, who in the past has expressed the challenges that West Hempstead sports organizations already deal with when trying to negotiating fair field time for everyone, stressed the importance of preserving the non-school athletic programs in the community.

 "West Hempstead does not have a lot for our kids to do, but we are a community that pulls together when it counts," she said. "We need to protect our sports, our organizations, because it's all we have.

Magaraci went on to describe the various sports teams that had been cut from the schools in West Hempstead in recent years, including intramurals, wrestling and seventh grade teams.

She said that youth sports programs in the community fill the void left behind by these cuts, providing local kids the ability to still play at a reasonable cost. Her fear was that if the board left the doors open for outside organizations to use the facilities, the increased competition for playing space could cause field fees to rise, making the hometown leagues less affordable.

She asked the board to"please vote in favor of West Hempstead, the majority, not the minority...in the long run everyone will benefit."

Other residents were more concerned whether all of the board members would be voting on this issue. Without naming a particular board member, a handful of residents suggested that the one board member who submitted a permit on behalf of a team his son plays on that is not based in West Hempstead, referring to Anthony Brita, should be excluded from the vote due to a potential conflict of interest.

This criticism was raised during the board's December meeting, after Brita voted to approve the permit he submitted weeks after the policy had last been revised to only hold individuals teams to the 80-percent rule.

"There's a financial interest," one resident said, citing the money a board member would save by having access to sports facilities in the district, which charges less than outside places.

The board's legal adviser, Mr. Sheehan, stood by his original opinion on the matter, saying that he saw no conflict of interest.

"A board member does not give up his or her right to submit a facilities' use form...that's the same right as any member of the community," Sheehan said.

He explained conflict of interest and code of ethics provisions are in place to prevent board members from entering in to a contract with the board where they stand to directly profit.

"Each board member, for example, is interested in West Hempstead schools and have placed their children in West Hempstead schools. They have interest in that when they vote on any item before them...but there's not material benefit for them."

Sheehan added, "Each board member has an obligation to vote on the policy regardless of whether they may in the future submit a facilities use form under this policy."

Ultimately, all the board members did vote on the policy Tuesday night, with the exception of Cynthia DiMiceli, who as absent from the meeting. It passed 4-2, with Pamela Lotito, James Mariano, Walter Ejnes and Carole Rilling voting in favor of it and Rudolf Schindler and Anthony Brita opposed.

After the issue was settled both Magaraci and Brendan Smith, of the West Chiefs Soccer Club, were happy to say that the coaches, parents and the board could now "move on."

More to come! Check Patch later tonight for a full recap of the meeting, including updates on the school budget, teacher negotiations and other important business in the district that was discussed. Plus, video highlights.