Funds Green-Lit For Hewlett High School Track and Field Fix

The Hewlett-Woodmere Board of Education voted last Wednesday to use about $682,000 from a special fund to do repairs at the ’s synthetic turf and track.

“The most cost-effective way to fix the track is to do it now,” said Dennis Sheridan, the district’s director of facilities. “The field would be 100 percent what it was.”

He added, “It has lived up to expectations. Additional sports would not have been possible with a real turf. The synthetic turf was one of the best investments we’ve ever made.”

The synthetic turf field was the first of its kind on Long Island, according to Assistant Superintendent of Business Dr. Peter Weber. In 2008, the public approved the creation of the Athletic Facility Repair Reserve for fixes needed in the future. The board’s vote allows those funds to be used. No additional contributions from the community or a change of budget are needed for the repairs.

“We owe it to the community to do this,” said Central Council PTA Co-President Cheryl May. “We owe it to the people who put the funds in originally to repair it.”

Joe Whitney, a security guard at the district who was standing at the hearing, pointed out that the field and track are really a community resource. “That facility is used by a cross-section of the community you wouldn’t believe,” he said. “It’s money well spent.”