Residents ask Mount Lebanon board to name field for longtime coach Art Walker; board takes no action

Several residents asked the Mount Lebanon Board of School Directors on Sept. 5 to consider naming the district football field for longtime coach Art Walker and to grant an exemption from the district’s naming-rights policy so the dedication could occur during the current season.

Mike Valdiserri, who identified himself as a family member, told the board his group had a proposal they believed complied with district guidelines but sought an exemption and urged expedited consideration because Walker is 89 years old. Valdiserri said the naming committee included former players and that the group wanted Walker to experience the dedication in his lifetime. A second public speaker, Chip D’Alessandro, described Walker as a mentor and urged the board to move the naming request forward.

The public speakers said they first raised the matter in 2010 and that they had prepared a proposal; they also said several alumni and contemporaries of Walker support the request. One potential witness, Jim Kamek, was present but not a district resident; the board’s presiding member declined to cede time to a nonresident speaker during the public-comment period.

Board members did not take any formal action at the meeting. The presenters asked the board for an exemption to the naming-rights process and for the field to be named in time for the current football season; no vote or referral was recorded in the transcript.

Why it matters: naming facilities is a public decision that involves district policy and fundraising considerations; the speakers said the request honored Walker’s decades of service as coach, educator and mentor.