High School Turf Field Moves Forward in Nearby Montville

Parsippany's neighbor voted down a taxpayer-funded turf field and now is getting one through alternate means, including the sale of naming rights.

UPDATED: County OKs Schools' $130.6M Budget, But Rejects Fields Plan

The 2013-14 plan will raise the tax levy by 2.41 percent and keep a provision to reinstate five media specialists.

Editor's Note: This updated version includes comments from Board of Education President Susy Golderer. The 2013-14 budget for Parsippany schools won county approval April 4, according to a statement on the district website. The Board of Education cut the originally proposed spending plan by $1.5 million at its March 28 meeting, making the grand total for next year's budget $130,684,558. The plan does not include expenditures for athletic improvements at the high school, which led to last-minute scrambling by board members, who had to come up with a final plan to send to Interim County Executive Superintendent Rosalie S. Lamonte on the 28th. At the meeting, Parsippany Superintendent of Schools LeRoy Seitz surprised board members and …

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BOE Fields Committee Comes Up with Plan B for Athletic Improvements

The new plan removes extras such as lights, bathrooms, bleacher upgrades and disability access.

The Parsippany Board of Education's ad hoc committee on the high school athletic fields held its first meeting Saturday, March 16, to brainstorm ideas for making improvements to facilities at the township's high schools. BOE members and community volunteers holding a variety of points of view are part of the committee, which was formed after voters rejected the school board's $7.7 million fields improvement plan during the Jan. 22 referendum. At the gathering, the members determined that short- and long-term strategies were needed to accomplish the body's stated mission to make athletic refurbishments a reality. The group came up with what's known as Phase 1, a scaled back recommendation for improvements. In answer to the resounding "no" …

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Athletic Fields Inspire School Board Brainstorming

BOE president asks citizens to serve on a committee to help make field improvements a reality.

Town residents gathered Thursday for a special session of the Parsippany Board of Education for a chance to brainstorm as a community to find ways in which to finance improvements to athletic facilities at Parsippany and Parsippany Hills high schools. For this informal meeting, consisting primarily of public comment, residents came to a microphone to share their views. Some called for better maintenance, some called for fundraising with corporations, some suggested corralling volunteers to take on some of the work. Still others reminded the board that playing fields at the elementary and middle schools need help as well. Most thanked the board for the chance to talk and to be heard. "This meeting is what we wanted, and I appreciate your …

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Letters to the Editor

School Fields Need Help, Advocate Insists

Share your point of view via a Letter to the Editor.

Michael Pietrowicz of Little Vikings Football, who chaired the mayor's Fields of Dreams committee, sent an open letter addressed to school district leadership to Patch for publication. Dear Board of Education President Susy Golderer, board members and Dr. LeRoy Seitz, superintendent of schools: Thank you for conducting a special BOE meeting on Feb. 21 for the public to fully examine the current conditions at the two high schools' athletic complexes and to offer input as the board explores financing options and other potential opportunities to address the hazardous and unsafe conditions. The unacceptable and dangerous conditions have existed for many years and as time passes these issues will only further exacerbate. Over the past two years…

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School Board to Host Open Work Session on Fields

The public will have a chance to offer input as the BOE considers ways to make athletic field improvements for the high schools more than a dream.

With the Jan. 22 failure of the Parsippany Board of Education's fields referendum, the body said it would consider new ways to make so-called fields of dreams a reality for township high schoolers. The process gets its start Thursday at 7 p.m. when the school board hosts a work session for specific discussion on the issue. The public is invited to attend the special BOE meeting and to offer input on what specific items the town considers necessary for Parsippany High School and Parsippany Hills High School—and how to raise funds for such a project. The issue has been discussed in the township for at least the past decade. The prospect gained notice in late 2011, when Mayor James Barberio and his Recreation Advisory Committee floated a $4.5…

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Turf Fields Options Considered By Officials, Residents

BOE eyes alternative ways for improvements after referendum rejection.

Parsippany voters, by a wide margin, rejected the Board of Education's $7.7 million fields referendum last week, but the issue is still alive. At the school board's Jan. 24 meeting, two days after the special election, board members and residents talked about new ways to try and make some type of upgrades to sports facilities, including the football fields, at Parsippany and Parsippany High School. Board President Susy Golderer, who already suggested an idea to solicit donations from area citizens and corporations to cover the cost of any improvements that might be made, restated that view. She added that she was particularly interested in hearing ideas from the public regarding creative ways to make fields of dreams a reality. Resident …

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Referendum Fails, New Options Eyed for Fields

School board members and residents say they will consider alternative ways to improve athletic field conditions at the town's high schools.

When the vote counts for the Parsippany Board of Education fields referendum started coming after the polls closed at 9 p.m. Tuesday, the will of the people became quite clear very quickly: Most voters said no. And school board members and citizens in attendance, whatever their particular view on the matter, appeared shocked. The first count shown was for Central Middle School: The yes votes were 119, the no votes 218. And then Intervale School: 115 yes, 227 no. "This doesn't look good," said a voice that sailed ominously through the meeting room at the BOE building. For supporters, the news wasn't good. In the final unofficial count, the opposition had it: 2,373 to 1,745. "The people have spoken," said board member Anthony Mancuso. "They …

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Fields Referendum Fails by Wide Margin

Residents vote against spending nearly $8 million for high school athletic improvements.

The fields of dreams will have to wait. Parsippany voters came out in the biting cold Tuesday to have their say about the Board of Education's $7.7 million athletic fields referendum. And by a wide margin, they said they were not willing to support the proposal to bring artificial turf fields, lights, refurbished lights and more at Parsippany and Parsippany Hills high schools. In the end, the referendum did not carry a single polling place, and the unofficial tally performed by Municipal Clerk Yancy Wazirmas showed that no votes outpaced yesses 2,373-1,745. Board of Education President Susy Golderer, who questioned the cost of the proposal during the referendum planning stages, said the result surprised her. Still, she said, "The people …

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Peter

11:10 am on Sunday, February 10, 2013

Who payed for the fields you used as a child.   more ›