Skelos And Barra Announce $65,000 State Grant For Athletic Field At Brooklyn Avenue School In Valley Stream

Brooklyn Avenue School in Valley Stream.

“I’m very pleased to help improve the athletic facilities at the Brooklyn Avenue School,” said Senator Skelos. “Providing kids with a safe place to participate in athletic activities is critically important. And it’s my hope that more and more young people in Valley Stream will join these programs and gain the benefits that organized sports have to offer.”

“This is an important project for the school district and Valley Stream’s children,” said Assemblyman Barra. “By providing this state funding, it eases the burden placed on local property taxpayers and ensures that the new field will be an asset to the entire community for years to come.”

In past years, the Valley Stream Union Free School District #24 has repeatedly attempted to grow natural grass on the Brooklyn Avenue School’s athletic field. Due to the field’s heavy clay soil, neither the District’s installation of a ground sprinkler system nor its hiring of a professional landscaping firm successfully produced a playable, natural surface.

As noted by Superintendent Fale in his funding request to Senator Skelos and Assemblyman Barra, “the field has become a ‘dust bowl’ in the dry weather and a ‘mud pond’ in the rain.”

According to estimates received by the District, the total installation cost for the 16,334 sq. ft. FieldTurf synthetic surface is $126,589. While the new artificial athletic field would allow it to be an asset to the community for baseball, softball, soccer and other school and community sponsored sporting events, the cost was too prohibitive to be incorporated into the District’s operating budget.

The $65,000 state grant provided by Senator Skelos and Assemblyman Barra will enable the District to move forward with this important project.

Other attendees at the check presentation includedPrincipal Ted Kusulas, School Board President Lawrence Torgeo, School Board Assistant President Anthony Iadezaio, PTA member Marijo Sensale, members of the school board, Brooklyn Avenue School faculty and staff.

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