Council member urges Hawthorne residents to weigh in on high-school athletic-complex survey as school board budget approved

A council member urged Hawthorne residents at the May 21 borough council meeting to complete a newly posted Hawthorne High School Athletic Complex Survey as the school board moves forward on a budget and long-range facilities planning.

The council member said the school board has approved a roughly $57.7 million budget with a 4% tax increase and that the State Department of Education communicated additional levy authority to the district. “It's called the Hawthorne High School Athletic Complex Survey, and it's designed to ostensibly help guide their long range facility plan,” the council member said, encouraging residents to give feedback in person or online.

Why it matters: the questionnaire asks whether residents would support installing artificial turf on the main athletic field and the baseball/practice field, and whether public funds — for example via a bond or referendum — should be used. The council member told the meeting that artificial turf would “probably cost you taxpayers well over $1,000,000,” and noted questions about repurposing other surfaces, including whether to remove a roller-hockey rink and replace it with tennis, pickleball or basketball courts.

Council members and staff did not present a borough-funded plan or budget proposal for turf at the meeting; the remarks were a call for residents to monitor school-board deliberations and to attend school-board meetings if they wish to weigh in. “After all, it's your money,” the council member said.

The borough did not adopt any action tonight about the school complex; the speaker’s figures and descriptions were presented as council commentary about school-board activity. Residents seeking more detail on the school board’s plans or the survey were directed to the school board’s materials and meeting notices.