Lehman H.S. petitions city for regulation football fi eld
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
Lehman High School students,
parents, alumni and
community residents are
banding together to petition
the city to expand the school’s
sports fi eld, once and for all.
The Lehman High School
Lions football team has been
unable to host a home game
on their turf, since the fi eld
is 20 yards short of a regulation
fi eld, according to Maria
Soto, the team’s fund-raising
coordinator at Lehman High
School located at 3000 E.
Tremont Avenue.
The Change.org petition,
‘Lehman High School Sports
Field Needs to Get Fixed!’ has
amassed 1,240 signatures.
They’re looking to gather a
total of 1,500 signatures, said
Soto, who initiated the petition.
When the fi eld was renovated
in 2010, its shortcomings
were not addressed,
Soto said.
Even though there is suffi
cent room for a regulationsize
fi eld, the School Construction
Authority, the
agency tasked with the earlier
renovations, did not
correct the defi ciency, she
claims.
A 2012 Feasibility Study
laid out three options that
potentially met the programmatic
requirements for a regulation
football and soccer
fi eld, but they all had significant
drawbacks including
costly infrastructure modifi
cations and/or property acquisition,
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said Kevin Ortiz,
SCA manager of Communications
and External Affairs.
“Each option would result
in a fi eld that would still be
dimensionally cramped and
have poor orientations,” Ortiz
said. “We would be happy
to work with our local partners
to look at other alternatives.”
According to Soto, the
Lehman Football team has
been playing its home games
at the Evander Childs High
School field, located at 800 E.
Gun Hill Road, three miles
away.
The NYC Department of
Education does not provide
home game bus transportation.
“The community is not
going to travel to Evander
Childs, (on) the other side
of the Bronx, to see Lehman
play,” Soto said. “We are appreciative
that they Evander
lend us their fi eld to play, but
we want our own fi eld to play
on and call ‘home’.”
It’s demoralizing that
other boroughs have really
nice fi elds and Lehman
doesn’t, Soto said.
The team is undefeated,
division champions, and are
really good hardworking
kids, she said.
Soto is calling on Borough
President Ruben Diaz to complete
the long overdue project
at Lehman High School football
fi eld.
Soto said, “He needs to
pick up his phone and call
whoever he needs to call
and get this fi eld for Lehman
fi xed.”
In a statement to the
Bronx Times, Alina Suriel,
a spokesperson from the borough
president’s offi ce, said,
“We are aware of this longstanding
issue within the
Lehman High School community
but the decision to
expand the fi eld would ultimately
rest with the School
Construction Authority. Our
offi ce is ready to work with
the SCA and is reaching out
to the agency about the issue.”
Councilman Mark Gjonai,
who has been advocating for
the expansion of the fi eld,
said his offi ce is determined
to continue working with all
parties to secure a regulation
fi eld for Lehman High
School.
“It is unacceptable that
this championship team, a
source of pride in the Bronx,
can’t host home games on
their own fi eld,” Gjonai said.
He has met with the superintendent
and other stakeholders
to explore ways that
will bring a solution to this
issue.
An image of the Lehman High School football fi eld expansion.
Photo courtesy of Maria Soto
/Change.org
/PrestonHS.org