Forum on Artificial Turf

With just under three weeks to go before Sag Harbor School District residents vote on using money from the school’s capital reserve fund for an artificial turf athletic field at Pierson Middle and High School, the district’s PTA and Parent Teacher Student Association have planned a public forum on the topic to hear information and viewpoints from all sides of the issue.

The forum will be next Thursday at 6 p.m. in the Pierson library. It will feature presentations by Katy Graves, Sag Harbor’s superintendent, and by Patti Woods of the organization Grass Roots Environmental Education. It is open not just to PTA and P.T.S.A. members, but also to the community at large, according to Aura Winarick, the president of the Pierson P.T.S.A. It was inspired in part, she said, by a similar forum held last week by the Noyac Civic Council that she called “very enlightening.”

“The motivation is to educate,” she said Tuesday. “To give our members an opportunity to learn what the vote is actually about. Not everybody pays attention to the details of these things.” 

Equally important, Ms. Winarick said, is that the P.T.S.A and PTA members will vote to take a stance either in opposition or support of the turf field proposal. Only members of the groups will be able to vote, but she said the groups will be accepting new members during the forum.

“I do think it is important that PTA and P.T.S.A. take an official stance because we are a large and very well-organized group with state and national bylaws that guide us. We can have a large voice in what’s going on,” Ms. Winarick said. “We aren’t just all about bake sales and book fairs. There’s so much more we can do.”

The capital reserve referendum vote is planned for Dec. 14 from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the Pierson gymnasium. A voter registration day will be held Dec. 5 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the district office.