Ponca Regional High School courtyard memorial project not eligible for CPA funds, committee told

Students and teachers from Ponca Regional High School presented a proposal on Oct. 16 to repair and re-present memorial markers in the school's courtyard, but the Community Preservation Committee was told coalition guidance deems the project ineligible for CPA funding.

Joe Solomon, a history teacher and student-council adviser, and student community ambassador Cameron Poirier described efforts by student volunteers to clear overgrowth around memorial markers and said they hoped to add stone picnic tables and make the courtyard a more usable educational and memorial space.

"We'd like to revamp it and make it better than it is now," Solomon said, describing prior volunteer landscaping work and the students' goal of creating a lasting memorial and outdoor-learning area.

The committee reported it had sent the Step 1 application to the state coalition for review. The coalition's written guidance, read to the committee, said CPA recreation funding is limited to dedicated recreational land — parks, playgrounds, trails and similar public recreational property — and does not fund enhancements to school property that remains controlled by the school committee. Likewise, the coalition said projects seeking historic funding must involve resources that are historically significant and subject to review by the town's historical commission or be on the historic register; standalone school courtyards generally do not meet that standard unless separately designated.

Because the courtyard is school property and lacks the conservation restriction or register listing the coalition requires for CPA recreation or historic allocations, the committee and staff advised the applicants that CPA funds could not be used for the proposed picnic tables and courtyard retrofit. Committee members suggested the students pursue educational, school-district, teacher-association or private fundraising options and offered to circulate the application to potential local donors.

Solomon and Poirier said the project grew from the student council and described earlier community events in the courtyard that drew neighborhood participation. The committee encouraged those fundraising and outreach efforts and thanked the students for civic engagement.