I thought you were joking, Art

I really thought Art's last blog was a good attempt at humor. Then I read the story in the Herald News about a rodeo at Boverini Stadium. Not to beat a dead horse, but this has got to be the most ridiculous decision a school board has ever made (or at least, close to it).

Let's see, we'll take a measly $400 for an event about as prevalent in this part of the country as A-Rod getting a clutch hit. And, then we're going to defend our decision (which unbelievably was a 6-0 vote in favor of it) despite the knowledge that our football field is in absolute shambles. It's literally covered in....you know where I'm going.

Hey, our insurance isn't paying for the damage, they said. The school district is not spending any money on this, they said.

Who really cares?

We're not in the southwest, where rodeos happen all the time and they're actually televised and front page news. We're in New Jersey. High school sports are starting. Athletes need their fields to practice on. Parents don't need to worry about the health of the field. Parents need not concern themselves about potential diseases from bull dung when they send their kids to a high school function.

Fellow board member Ronald Van Rensalier pointed the finger at the state for the field's poor conditions, not the large bovines.

"If the NJSCC (New Jersey School Construction Corp.) didn't mismanage billions of dollars, maybe we would be building additional fields," Van Rensalier said.

HELLO, YOU HELD A FREAKING RODEO ON THE FOOTBALL FIELD! ARE YOU SERIOUSLY BLAMING THE STATE'S SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION CORP.? SERIOUSLY? IS THIS THING ON? ANYBODY HOME? McFLY, McFLY?

I am really just stunned by this story. Stupid is a strong word, but it's warranted in this instance. And, to hear these BOE officials say they would vote yes again, well...I don't really think I need to say anymore.

Anyway, check back later for an update on the Hudson Catholic-Bergen Catholic scrimmage, and other news and notes from today.

Comments

[Tom]

The board will wind up paying more then $400.00 for buses because they will have to move their home games when visiting schools refuse to play there because of dangerous field conditions.

[tafstra]

This is a-typical for a city that is in shambles riddle by gang violence and poor leadership. Passaic is the next Camden. Boverini is turning in his grave. In typical inner-city fashion, they rented for $400 and will spend $1200.00 to clean it up, so its just barely playable. I wonder why these kids are leaving for the catholic schools. I vote the disband the entire school system in passaic, expell the dead weight, you know the 19 year-old sophmore, then pay to send the rest to surrounding districts, with in 25 mile radius. That way they could get rid of the entire unqualified Board and staff. You could get, Lombardi,Landry,Parcells, Belicheck,Madden,Knoll and whoever else and they couldn't fix this mess. You need to really want to fix it. Question, your bleeding profusely, would you cover it with a band-aid?