Mat-Ab board needs dose of financial reality

My husband and I have lived in Aberdeen nearly 25 years and have paid taxes to support its school system.

I applaud Joseph Fenimore's guest column in your July 19 issue, for I believe the Matawan-Aberdeen Board of Education could use a dose of financial reality. Are their expenditures warranted? I don't think so.

I also believe the salaries of the top brass, i.e., superintendent, etc., are way out of line with what they should be paid.

It is a sad but true fact that fiscal mismanagement by the BOE is negatively impacting taxpayers. Are test scores impressive for this school system? Do they have Olympic athletes in the making? I wonder.

Joann Buhler

Aberdeen

Column insulted tirelesss work of band

Mr. Joseph Fenimore's guest column on July 19 ("Matawan Regional field improvements a waste of money") regarding the installation of lights and artificial turf to the Matawan Regional High School football field contained several inaccuracies.

Throughout the summer months the Matawan Regional High School Marching Huskies practice in the evenings. In the month of July these practices occur twice per week until 8 p.m. During the last two weeks of August, the band rehearses five days per week until 10 p.m. In the summer and during the school year the band, including the drumline, never practices past 10 p.m.

The band does not use the main football field for practice. Instead, we use one of the school's parking lots. The installation of lights on the football field would not change our practice schedule.

The Matawan Regional High School Marching Huskies work for hours over the summer and during the school year. We work tirelessly to provide quality entertainment at our school's football games and to bring numerous honors and awards to our school. To have our hard work referred to as "torture" is a great insult to the students, teachers, and parents who dedicate themselves to the program.

Shannon Crumlish

senior drum major

Matawan Marching Huskies

Matawan

Matawan Regional field improvements a waste of money

Joseph Fenimore

Guest Column

The Matawan-Aberdeen Board of Education is beginning a capital improvement project for the Matawan Regional High School which will cost the taxpayers $1.25 million. The "improvement" is an artificial turf football field and four light poles to be used for night games. For a board that is always crying poverty and always looking to raise the taxes, this seems to be a serious waste of money. As you already know Matawan taxes were raised almost 13¢ and Aberdeen taxes 15.4¢. This was after the original budget was voted down.

When asked at a recent town meeting why Matawan Regional High School needed a new field and lights no real answer was given. Something about keeping kids off drugs and giving the few parents that can't make a day game the ability to see their children play at night seemed reason enough to justify the cost. How does a football field with lights keep kids off drugs? I don't know either. This testimony was countered rather vehemently with real issues from real people who live in the surrounding neighborhood. Which I will list below:

1) Lack of parking and increased traffic- during home football games cars that cannot fit in the parking lot overflow onto Atlantic Avenue, the "D" section of Strathmore and surrounding streets. None of these streets are meant to be parked on because they are narrow. These streets are made even narrower by cars being left on them during games. Accidents will occur as drivers will have to share the same road while going in different directions. This problem will be compounded by the lack of light because the games will begin and end after dark. Children who use these streets to play and ride their bicycles will have to be confined to their homes or risk serious injury. The chief of police of Aberdeen voiced his concern about the same matter by writing a letter to the zoning board.

The Board of Ed's response - silence.

2) Noise pollution - a point was brought up by one town board member that there is a law that states that the maximum amount of decibels at the property line should not exceed 50db. What is 50db? It is equivalent to the volume of rainfall. Currently the Matawan marching band and the PA system used for the games both exceed these recommendations as both can be clearly heard nearly a mile away. During the summer the community around the school is inundated with pounding drums five to six days a week, five to six hours per evening ending as late as 11 p.m. Mind you that some people's bedrooms are only 100 or so yards away from these drums. This isn't an inconvenience. This is torture. Now with lights these practices can continue as late as they want for as long as they want.

The Board of Ed's response - expect a couple of nighttime band competitions this year also.

3) Light pollution - the Board of Ed hired an engineer with lots of degrees and plenty of credentials. He put on a dog and pony show about "foot candles" of light and angles at which the lights will be pointed and how there shouldn't be any intrusion into anyone's house on Atlantic Avenue greater than a moonbeam. Wow, I was impressed. When asked how the lights will affect the D section which resides directly behind the football field the man was flabbergasted because he didn't even know there was a D section. Talk about doing your homework. The bottom line is when I walk into my backyard I don't want to see a 50 foot light pole with 13 lights on it no matter which way they are pointed.

The Board of Ed's response - silence.

4) Misuse of funds - currently Aberdeen/Matawan only offers preK to families of four who do not gross over $30,000 a year. Most of the people who pay $8,000 or better in taxes need to make a little more than that. In other words most everyone is paying thousands for preK every year. Wouldn't this money serve us better if it were used to expand the preK program?

The Board of Ed's response - silence.

During the late spring and early fall months of the year the schools tend to get a little stuffy. So much so that teachers have shut the lights in the classrooms to try to minimize the heat in the classrooms. Even with that Herculean effort some kids start to feel faint and are sent to the nurse's office and some of those children are eventually sent home. I know this to be true because last year my son was one of them. $1.25 million might buy an AC or two.

The Board of Ed's response - silence.

5) Health of the athlete - one reason the Board of Ed wants a new field is that it will help the school's athletics department. According to the superintendent student morale would be greatly enhanced because of artificial turf and lights. Scores of teenagers will come running to watch and participate in sports under the lights. I just hope the Board of Ed's insurance is paid up. Artificial turf has been responsible for ending more than a few promising careers. NFL players Jamal Anderson, Vinny Testeverde, Leslie Sheppard, Troy Aikman, and others have had there careers cut short due to concussions or ligament damage directly associated with artificial turf. The first three people listed weren't even touched when they went down. Giants stadium - in an effort to keep their players healthy - actually removed the turf for a year but had to replace it because the grass couldn't survive the pounding it was taking.

This story is not anti-children, anti-sports or anti-improvement. This is about priorities and putting them in the proper order. The Board of Education operates without regard to the taxpayer or the community because they can. Taxes continue to rise at an alarming rate because of the waste and mismanagement of the Board of Education. Every year they continue to ask for more and more and even when the budget is voted down they still get a good portion of what they asked for. This needs to stop now.

By the way, the lights were defeated by a vote of the Aberdeen Planning Board. Unfortunately they have no jurisdiction.

Joseph Fenimore is a resident of Aberdeen

Holmdel Football Field...Interesting


Committee optimistic Roggy fundraising will pick up as work progresses
BY TOM CAIAZZA
Staff Writer

Despite drainage delays and a lull in fundraising efforts, Frank Corrado, co-chair of Holmdel's Roggy Field Fundraising committee is optimistic that all will finish on time.

The ambitious, $1.5 million renovation project of the football field at the high school broke ground in January. But project delays and less than stellar fundraising results have yielded concern that it may not be ready on time.

"I am very, very optimistic that it will be done for the opening of varsity football in September," Corrado said.

Half of the project will be jointly funded by the Holmdel School District and the township, with the other half coming from private donations.

That's where Corrado comes in.

Along with co-chair Bob Evanson, Corrado and a band of volunteers have taken on the task of raising nearly $800,000 in private funds. At this point Corrado said $120,000 has been collected, but he expects that number will go up once the field is near completion and the public can see that it is a benefit to the community.

"I really think - call me crazy - that this should be viewed as a community venue," Corrado said. "I want people to start to realize this venue is for Holmdel."

When completed, the field named in honor of world-class javelin thrower and Holmdel alumnus Bob Roggy will boast an artificial turf and a new track.

Corrado said that since construction began, fundraising has hit a lull. But once completed, he said, business owners will see the benefits of buying advertising at the field that plays host to high school home games as well as community events and sports teams.

Businesses will be able to purchase advertising space at the new field for $1,500 per year. Those signing on for a five-year contract will pay $4,500, but Corrado said the cost will be worth it, given the volume of people that will visit the field each year, which he said pushes 15,000.

"We're looking for businesses who understand they are getting in on the ground floor," Corrado said. "You never know where this facility is going."

Corrado said he isn't worried about the funds raised not reaching certain levels at certain times.

"Raising $800,000 is not a drop in the bucket," Corrado said. "It would be putting undo stress on our committee by saying we need to be at 'x' by this date and 'y' at that date."

He said that he knows the businesses will come through.

"We haven't scratched the surface on who can contribute," Corrado said.

One thing the fundraising committee is deficient on is volunteers. Corrado said that since this is a community project, a little more help from the community outside of financial contributions is a necessity.

"We really need volunteers beyond soliciting," Corrado said.

It is understandable, he said, that some people may not be comfortable with soliciting donations from businesses and private individuals, but that should not be a deterrent for volunteering, as there are plenty of jobs for those who are not interested in directly raising funds.

Corrado said the fundraising committee plans on a big push to local businesses as the project begins to wrap up. A sign has been commissioned to display the progress of the fundraising and hopefully bring more notice to the project. The field is expected to be completed in time for the fall football season.

As for the fundraising effort, Corrado offered an appropriate analogy.

"This is not a sprint," he said, "but a long-distance race."