Absolutely not. Lower class sizes before you spend money on athletic fields. Never put sports before education.

I COMPLETELY agree....let them pursue grant money and fundraising....any "extra" budgeted funding from the HS project should be used for educational purposes NOT athletics. I voted for a new HS not this idea for over inflated egos! Also keep in mind that this entire area is bordered by residential homes/ neighborhood... the last thing I would want if I lived there would be noisy night games with crowds and flood lighting! Hope abutters are duly notified sooner rather than later!

No way. For all the reasons cited above. Friday night games, flood lights and everything that goes with it? Absolutely not. Looks like all the key politically connected types are on board with this but this would be awful for the abutting neighbors. This isn't what I agreed to when I voted for the override.

Where is the presentation about raising our scores to first class levels? Staffing our schools with first class teachers and first class materials? We need new elementary schools before this. Ill conceived.

... only if there is a new fire station included in the complex.

Spectators would be lost in the potholes on the way to events haha ha haha...

Are the new school committee members that irresponsible that they would ask the voters for money for this luxury in one breath while laying off teaching staff and cutting academic programs in another? You've got to be kidding me. This is what our school committee is doing with their spare time while our class sizes grow and our kids suffer academically? Nice job guys. Not.

This is actually a difficult decision. It is easy to just say "don't spend the money on that”. We as a town should not be short sited. The old phrase "penny wise and pound foolish" should enter all of our minds in this difficult financial time for any and all moves we make. But, we are in the process of this major town's future shaping project with the new High School. To say the money should be spent on teachers and class sizes and test prep is apples to oranges. Even if we all agreed to give all the money toward those excellent goals you just can't because they are separate project budgets. Just like you can't take the road repair funds from the State and allocate them to the school budget. Tewksbury has a hard decision ahead of it on this (and so many other financial decisions) I as a resident and parent of school age children just hope this project gets a serious consideration as I feel it will be very important in the way this town is perceived and untimately functions. Do we want to be a town that functions on a higher level or one that always is playing catch-up to the "nice" towns in the areas? With all that said the majority of the funding should be wrapped into the High School building project to get the matching funds from the State and the Town side should be mostly private donations and fundraised with as little as possible from the budgeted funds. -- Just my thoughts. Thanks for considering them.

I don't have a problem when there is "private money" and "grants" involved. This money isn't "found money". It belongs to the tax payers.

See more online discussions here:
http://www.tewksburyissues.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=9674

Bob Ferrari
Webmaster of TewksburyIssues

Don't know if abutting residents were notified nor if it's going to be televised for those unable to attend but wanted to get the word out to those concerned and pass this information along to interested Patch readers as it is being held THIS Thursday.

Meeting Notice
June 23, 2011 at 7:OOPM
Proposed High School Athletic Complex

A presentation will be made by the Friends of
Tewksbury Community Athletic Complex regarding
their proposal to construct an Athletic Complex at
the new High School.
The proposal includes an artificial turf athletic field with enhanced seating for
1,500 spectators. It also includes a 6 lane 18 lane
straight-away synthetic track, 5 tennis courts,
lighting, scoreboard, press box and sound system.

The presentation/informational meeting will be held
June 23, 2011 at 7:OOPM in the Town Hall Auditorium.

Thanks Karyn ... you beat us to the punch .... lol ... as this is not a formal hearing, i dont believe notification of abutters is required. And now that I think of it, im not sure a public hearing will be required, given that it is going to be part of a project that has already been approved. I'll check on that.

When we have elementary schools full of radon, cafeterias too hot for our children too eat in, library rugs patched together with duct tape, playgrounds that flood in rainstorms, classrooms that share books, overcrowding, no supplies, crumbling walkways, and we want to fund a state of the art athletic complex? Priorities! I understand this MIGHT bring in money. Might! I would rather see my child educated than entertained.

If it's built by money brought in by fundraising, grants and corporate sponsors that will be wonderful. Obviously the taxpayers can't fund this.

I agree we have a LOT of problems in our elementary schools as well as elsewhere in the town. I get really irritated, however, when a group gets together and decides to target tackle ONE of the MANY problems and all the Negative Nellies come out to complain because their pet-peeve project wasn't what this group decided to work on.

Stop whining and start being part of the solution. If you want your pet-peeve issue fixed, go start working on it.

Seems like a lot of you didn't read the article too closely. They will be using private contributions and grant money to help fund this project. I know the main focus is for kids to get an education, but if people want to pay out of their pocket for this project, then they have that right. It's a free country.
If some of you people want smaller class sizes, start fundraising to pay for extra teachers. You would just have to constantly fund raise though....to pay their salary year after year. Good luck!

I support the proposed athletic facility. And I don't even have to contribute if I don't want to.

And are 'private contribution funds' going to be raised/used for ongoing maintenance and electricity required as well? And guess what? Abutting residential neighborhood taxpayers will get to pay for the disruption to their quality of life. Such a deal!

I support a non-tax payer funded athletic facility. Any money that remains unspent under the current construction project should be turned back over to the bank so we are incurring less debt. Will this newly proposed complex accommodate football?

A public hearing should be required because this is not the original plan that voters approved. How convenient to push forward a new, more expensive plan under the guise that it is part of a plan that already has been approved. How misleading and untrue.

In fairness, Sue, it does need to be reiterated that this is a private group looking to build this with private funds.
For what its worth, my experience with these type projects tells me that night games will be a financial boon for the schools and will, as a result, save the taxpayers money every year. That said, the impact on the neighborhood is certainly an issue that must be addressed at some point.

We are currently the only town in our league who plays our "FridayNight" games on Saturday morning because we are the only town without lighted fields. These games aren't scheduled for 9 pm -- they start much earlier than that and will be over no later than 9pm. Remember, football is played in the fall when it gets too dark to see at 4 pm. The disruption to the neighbors can't be much worse than the busses of kids get back from their other games later than 9.

"In terms of funding the construction, the proposal calls for $500,000 in private donations and $200,000 in grants to be sought. Hibner said he the group is planning to ask voters at future Town Meeting if they would be willing to allow $1.5 million in budgeted but unspent school construction funds be allocated for the higher-grade athletic complex"

1.5M taxpayer monies 500K private 200K grants

my understanding is that 2.2M is in addition to what the present project has allocated to that part of the project.

A school yes A sports complex no unless privately funded 100%

Next year along taxes going up 2.5% plus $500.00 school and water debt

it was included in the original plan. They want to upgrade the playing surface to synthetic, improve the drainage system so it is not a mud pit, and improve the stands:

"As part of the new $66 million high school, there are already plans for a new football field with seating for 500 and a natural grass surface surrounded by a six-lane synthetic track."

We do fundraisers all year for supplies, resources, playground equipment for the elementary through high schools. Every school in town has a parent organization that handles the fund raising. A state of the art athletic complex would be nice, but should not be paid for with town funds, taxes, or school funds when there are more pressing and important needs. Athletic scholarships are so few and far between, it is like dreaming of winning a grammy when banging on pots and pans in your kitchen, a new complex is not going to get anyone a free ride. There are however many real chances out there for academic scholarships and jobs. A good education will keep kids on the right path and hopefully become productive members of society, which I can hardly say about many of today's sport's "heroes".

I would like to know what the price of upkeep is for grass vs. turf.

Allowed uses for CPA aid expand - but NO TURF ALLOWED

http://www.tewksburyissues.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=10349&p=87003#p87003