BY ILANA GRATCH

 Fields for Kids is a community-based organization with the aim of raising moey to provide adequate playing fields in Larchmont and Mamaroneck. At the homecoming football game on Sept. 26, the group announced its newest goal: “Turf by Ten.”

Turf by Ten is the goal associated with the MHS Memorial Field Project 2010. The project was designed to raise enough money to turn the Memorial Field, better known as the football field, into a 370-by-200 foot multi-sport, all-weather turf field with a state-of-the-art drainage system, New York state approved storm water management system and new bleachers fitting up to 500 people. The plan was to receive a sufficient number of donations from the community to be able to instate all this by the fall of 2010.

            For the purposes of the MHS Memorial Field Project, Fields for Kids started with a base of $900,000 from the Mamaroneck School District, a NY State Legislative Assembly Grant, the Larchmont Junior Soccer League and Larchmont Mamaroneck Youth Lacrosse combined. In addition, $465,000 was set aside to come solely from donations in the community encouraged by Fields for Kids, allowing the organization to reach its goal of a total of $1,365,000.

            Recently, Fields for Kids met this goal. It is without a doubt important that MHS’s own sports teams have adequate fields. To an extent, our teams have demonstrated their worthiness of a turf field. However, in a time when the economy stands where it does now, one wonders what could be done with the same amount of money if spent elsewhere. Not even all of the professional sport teams are required to have, or for that matter are provided with, turf fields, and we do already have turf in Larchmont as it is.

Certainly, the $465,000 was comprised of strictly donations and therefore should go wherever the contributors see the best fit. At the same time, it is difficult to imagine that this massive amount of money would not be more useful somewhere else, like in the classrooms.  

            Last month, Gov. David Paterson released his mid-year plan to cut budgets for schools, something which would take half a million dollars away from our school district’s funding for the year. That is nearly the same amount of money Fields for Kids managed to acquire through fundraising for a new turf field.  This raises the question if in our community, half a million dollars would be most beneficial in replacing an already existing football field, while we are losing the same amount of money from our education funding.

            Though this debate seems to yield no conclusion between athletes and those who do not play sports, maybe both parties need to take another look at the question at hand. Sports teams would undoubtedly benefit from a turf field, yet we desperately need repair in our schools and drastic cuts are being made to the annual funding. The community managed to raise the amount of money our district is losing, but instead it is all goes towards a field.  Perhaps it is time our priorities be reordered.