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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007-11-14 Recreation Committee MinutesTown of Reading 16 Lowell Street Reading, MA 01867-2685 FAX: (781) 942 - 5441 RECREATION DIVISION: (781) 942 - 9075 READING RECREATION COMMITTEE MINUTES November 14, 2007 Berger Room -Town Hall Attendance: N. Swain, Rec. Committee Chairman, Mary Ellen Stolecki, Rec. Committee Member, Kate Kaminer, Rec. Committee Member, Beth Claroni, Associate Member, Michael DiPietro, Vice Chairman, Jack Downing, Rec. Committee Member, Chris Campbell, Rec. Committee Member, Bernie Winne, Rec. Committee Member, Mary Ann Kozlowski, School Comm. Rep, Frank Driscoll, Rec. Committee Member, Jim Sullivan, Rec. Program Coordinator and John Feudo, Recreation Administrator Guests: Bill Fay, Susan Fay, Mike Rivers, Craig Hasse, Eric Hughes, Steve Watson, Bette Burke, Mark Tango, Chris Nugent, Lori Burke. N. Swain called the meeting to order at 7:03PM and asked the committee to review the minutes of October 10th 2007. J. Downing entered the meeting at 7:08 PM. M. DrPietro-entered the-meeting-at-7:15 PM: _ K. Kaminer inquired if the abutter of Longwood Place had been contacted regarding the sign to be placed at Longwood Field in reference to the use of that field. J. Feudo said he has yet to contact him as the sign has not been put up yet. C. Campbell made a motion to accept minutes of the Recreation Committee meeting of October 10th, 2007. B. Winne seconded the motion. Motion passed in favor of accepting minutes of the Recreation Committee meeting of October 10th, 2007 by a vote of 6-0-0. 6th Grade Travel Basketball Discussion J. Feudo opened the floor to the parents of the 6th Grade Girls basketball program to begin discussion. Mr. Hasse felt that the 6th grade program should have an "A" team. He cited the 5th grade YMCA team from the previous year's successful playoff run (everybody makes the playoffs) as a key to his reasoning. He was surprised to find out that the 6th grade boy's team had an "A" team and that he felt it was unfair not to do the same for the girls program. J. Feudo offered the following explanation. When the Recreation Division was putting travel teams together, there is a general idea of what leagues Reading will participate in. However, at that time it is not known what level in which they will participate until the kids go through the evaluation process. The girls all participate in the River Valley League. This league allows towns to use their discretion when placing teams based on READING RECREATION COMMITTEE MINUTES November 14, 2007 Con't strength. The River Valley League will only move teams after a season of either dominance or complete struggle. When the teams were divided up for the 6th Grade Girls we tried to balance them the best we could so both teams could participate at a competitive level in the River Valley League. In years past we have found our true B teams have struggled in the River- Valley League-at the B -level. This year we felt that splitting the girls up evenly would put us in a good competitive position for both teams at one level instead of sending them to two different levels. Another part of our thinking was both of the coaches that stepped forth to volunteer both had players appropriate for the top level team. We have to consider the big picture when making decisions. It is difficult to pre-place a player on any team with a parent volunteering. Sometimes it is unavoidable. In this instance, it was avoidable by splitting the teams even. We saw this 6th Grade girls group as a B caliber no matter how we split them. Either they would be a very strong B team with the 12 highest ranked kids or an average B team with only the ability split on to two teams. Susan Fay felt because some of the kids participated last year in the YMCA 5th grade travel program and attended summer clinics that they deserved the chance of playing at a higher level in the Rec. program. She felt the opportunity had been taken away from them. - - Craig Hasse felt that the girls need to be playing at the highest level to learn the game of basketball. He cited the growth of New England College Basketball and if the girls want to play at that level they needed to start at an A level at the 6th grade. Bill Fay stated that we are 35 years into Title IX and you can not treat girls differently than boys. N. Swain stated that the Recreation Programs are not governed by Title IX as it only applies to the school programs. He sited an email from Boys 6th grade coach Steve Cunningham in which Mr. Cunningham agrees that he believes he got the top 8 players. Mr. Nugent was frustrated by the fact that his daughter was being held back being grouped with players that have never played before. Chris Campbell asked the parents to discuss the competiveness of the team from last year. He felt that judging the level of ability was a very subjective process. He felt that the kids' levels move up and down frequently. Mark Tango explained that the team got off to a rough start and lost most games by 20 -30 points, but then progressed well through the season. The team only won one regular season game beating a strong Stoneham team was the highlight of the season. B. Winne stated it's not the first the time a group has come before the Recreation Committee with a travel basketball issue; however it is not always from the same perspective in which most of these parents are coming from. The committee has had people come in and take the exact opposite approach that Recreation Programs should not be competitive. This is something the committee takes very seriously. There is no continuity from league to league for girls and boys, so there you have to take that into consideration and work with the different groups on a case by case basis each year. READING RECREATION COMMITTEE MINUTES November 14, 2007 Con't The committee developed a philosophy and asked the administrator and his staff to carry it out. We are confident that the Recreation Administrator makes decision to the benefit of every kid. B. Kids at the 6th grade level are all still learning to play the game of basketball, they can learn the game as well with a mixed group of players as a superstar group of players. J. Downing talked about the challenge of putting together a schedule-for a very weaker-teams and uneven age groups (i.e. 6th and 8th but no 7th). That is why it is important to join leagues and not piece together schedules. J. Feudo stated that he really felt he was working in the best interest of the kids in the program, so he apologized if anyone felt slighted. The Recreation Division tries to work with the best intentions for all of our participants no matter age, gender or anything else. The group of parents discussed the possibility of splitting the kids out of the Recreation program and running independently. J. Feudo recommended parents band together a group and participate in tournaments if they really feel they need to play more competitively. This group would not however be governed by the Rec. Division. N. Swain and J. Feudo discussed the need to define and change some of the literature regarding the program. There seemed to be a lot of confusion over the word "competitive" and what it means to the Recreation Division. The Recreation staff will work to make some clarifications so the mission of the program more clear for future years. F. Driscoll made a motion to keep the travel basketball program the way the Administrator has set the program for this year and take all the comments from this meeting under advisement Motion was seconded by B. Winne. Motion passes in favor of staying with the way the Administrator has set the travel basketball program for this year and take all the comments from this meeting under advisement by a vote of 9-0-0. Bill Fay asked if participants could get their money back if they feel they could go elsewhere and play. The committee discussed the options. F. Driscoll motion that if any travel basketball participant from the 6th Grade Girls teams requests a refund they are allowed to do so less $20 and it must be made by November 20th, 2007. M. Stolecki seconded the motion. Motion passes in favor of the motion to allow a refund to any 6th grade girls player less $20 and it must be made by November 20th, 2007 by a vote of 9-0-0. M. Stolecki recommended sending an email to each parent of all the players in the 6th grade girls program. The Recreation Administrator stated he would do so. J. Feudo introduced Eric Hughes as a perspective Rec. Committee Associate member. Eric has recently moved to Reading and lives on Small Lane with his wife who grew up in Reading. Eric works for Field Turf Tackett, a distributor of Field Turf. READING RECREATION COMMITTEE MINUTES November 14.2007 Con't Halloween Parade Father Bill Kremmel from St. Athanasius parish called the day after the Halloween Parade with the concern that town run Halloween Parade was on a Sunday morning at l O:OOAM. He stated although his parishioners have a choice on when to attend church, he stated other religions don't have the same opportunity as schedules aren't as flexible. J. Feudo explained the Recreation Committee that the reason the Halloween Parade was moved this year was for the potential of traffic issues at the Birch Meadow Complex. Pop Warner had a full slate of games scheduled for the day along with Men's softball. At the time of scheduling the event Micro-soccer league at Castine Field was also scheduled. Parking has been somewhat of an issue for the police with these events and leagues. Very careful plans have been put into place to direct traffic to various outlets to lessen the burden on Birch Meadow Drive. All of these activities with the exception of Pop Warner begin at 12:00 PM. Father Kremmel is requesting that the Recreation Division move the Halloween parade back to 12:00 PM in the future. The dilemma for the Recreation Division is that we saw our largest crowd ever this year for this event at the new time. Residents commented that it fit well into their children's nap schedules and gave them the rest of their day. J. Feudo stated he was turning to the Recreation Committee for guidance on a solution. M. DiPietro said he felt that because it was a one year event, he would keep it at 10:00 AM. K. Kaminer asked what the availability would be to switch if for Saturday morning instead. J. Feudo stated that Saturday morning is probably worse than Sunday because there is no field ban in place in the morning. K. Kaminer feels the Recreation Division is very responsible about scheduling on Sundays. This is a once a year event. B. Winne stated that he was at the mass in which Father Kremmel spoke about this and other issues Father Kremmel was concern that people do not prioritize going to church as highly as they should. He used the example of people never missing a Red Sox World Series game to go to mass. J. Downing said it seemed that only Father Kremmel took issue with the parade, but cautioned that other clergy members may not have known about the parade. B. Winne said he would be more sympathetic if the call came from one of the churches that only offered one service on Sunday at 10:00 or 11:00 AM. St. Athanasius has many options for mass. K. Kaminer felt that the move of the parade was necessary to not only satisfy the needs of the consumer, but also addresses the concerns that the police department has regarding traffic. The Committee advised the Recreation Administrator to call a few of the churches in Town to get a general feel. READING RECREATION COMMITTEE MINUTES November 14, 2007 Con't Administrator's Report J. Feudo and J. Sullivan gave an update of the programming that is currently taking place. There is close to 170 players participating in Travel Basketball. This is the most participation ever in the program. The Puentes Spanish program has dropped to about half the participation. We are finding that people are fine with ten weeks of a program and then they are ready to move on. We received nothing but praise for the instructor and the program. We will need to find a strategy to keep the kids in the program. The volleyball program has been very successful run by Michelle Hopkinson. There is some talk about starting a middle school travel team for next season. This year Reading hosted a jamboree against North Reading. It worked out great for all involved. The Tennis Courts have been approved for construction. Congratulations to Kate Kaminer and Lorraine Salter and all of the members of the Friends of Reading Tennis. Construction is expected to begin in the winter. A schedule should hopefully be available after the first of the year. The Turf Field at Parker Middle School is at a stand still at the conservation commission. They are requesting tests on school roof run off and statistics on ground water. Engineering has done some ` - soil testing. It is still hopeful to be done by spring. Subcommittee N. Swain reported that RCASA is interviewing the final candidates for the program director position. She stated she has been attending the healthy community seminars. She would like to bring material back to the committee and see how they fit into recreation and vice versa. Birch Meadow Ad Hoc planning committee continues to talk about different concepts for improvement of the Birch Meadow Complex. M. Kozlowski stated Committee has voted on several items already. They are waiting to hear back from the Town Engineers regarding fitting a forth softball field where there currently are three by using the area formally used for Imagination Station. The results of the survey were very successful and helpful. There was lots of support for a teen center, but not at the Birch Meadow complex. Discussion has also included the potential of removing the hill in the middle of the complex. The notion of an "older kid" playground had a lot of support. J. Feudo stated that he and the YMCA will be meeting soon to discuss the agreement between the Town and YMCA regarding the pool. Some of the items are up to be discussed. M. Stolecki reported on the Community Preservation Act. She stated she thought that Town Meeting will most likely refer the CPA back to the Committee and it would be looked at in the . ' spring. READING RECREATION COMMITTEE MINUTES November 14, 2007 Con't As an addendum to the discussion of the 6t1i Grade travel basketball discussion B. Winne made a motion to instruct the Recreation Administrator to not allow non-recreation sanctioned programs to be allowed during Reading Recreation booked time. F. Driscoll seconded the motion. Motion passed in favor of instructing the Recreation Administrator to not allow non-recreation sanctioned programs to be allowed during Reading Recreation booked time by a vote of 8-0-1. B. Winne made a motion to adjourn. F. Driscoll seconded the motion. Motion passed in favor of adjournment 9-0-0. Meeting adjourned at 9:16 PM. submitted by: F