Board of Education President Jessica DeDomenico told a regular meeting of school trustees Wednesday the board does not plan to rename Glover Field in memory of Anthony Senerchia Jr., but is instead considering other ways of honoring the late Pelham resident and coach.

Separately, the school board reviewed the bid for construction of the new Hutchinson School, revealing it came in $5 million over budget and deciding to rebid.

DeDomenico began her report on Glover by thanking everyone who has been a part of the discussion of renaming the field for their patience, as the board has been deliberating this issue since it was first brought to its attention in the spring. DeDomenico said the board has received a tremendous amount of feedback from community members and students via email, board meetings and other means of communication. A number of high school students spoke at a board meeting in April to support renaming the facility. The board has engaged in discussions at the board level and in the field committee.

“What was apparent is that there are many people (who) came forward in great support of the idea to rename the Glover turf field in honor of Anthony Senerchia Jr., and then there are many who thought that there are other options that we could be considering,” said DeDomenico.

“I’ve spent some time reflecting on feedback and trying to pull all this together… the one thing that was absolutely crystal clear, I’ve gone back to emails and really reflected on all these conversations, there is no doubt that the board and the community would like to ensure that Anthony Senerchia’s life and legacy is commemorated at Glover Field,” said DeDomenico. “There was not a person who came out against that.”

The board president said two years ago the board received the first request to find a way to honor Senerchia, which resulted in the addition of the “44” to the turf field, as 44 was Senerchia’s number. She said that after that decision was made, the board realized that it never completed the project.

“These discussions have sort of left me feeling that the business was maybe left unfinished,” DeDomenico said. This became especially clear to the board when members realized that not everyone in Pelham knows what the 44 stands for, especially if they are not involved with football or have moved to Pelham since its addition to the field. In turn, this means that these people are not familiar with Senerchia’s story or his contributions to the Pelham community.

The plan DeDomenico described would be to pass a formal resolution at an upcoming board meeting to commemorate the decision that was made to put the 44 on the field and to place a plaque next to the field or at the field to explain Senerchia’s life, his impact on students and his continuing legacy within the community. The board hopes to organize a ceremony at the field to officially recognize the 44 and the plaque where they are placed.

“I fully recognize that this idea that we’re tossing out falls short of what many people hoped would be the outcome here, given all the feedback we’ve received, though I think that this may be the best way to accomplish what it feels like everybody meant to accomplish, which is really to memorialize an incredible person who had a lasting impact on our community and who we want to have a lasting impact in our community,” DeDomenico said.

The school board discussed the recent bids which came back for the construction of a new Hutchinson School as well as projects at Prospect School, and the middle and high schools. Most of the bids were much higher than predicted, with the school building alone at Hutchinson coming in $5 million over budget. The board rejected the bids and decided to go out to bid again, on the advice of the bond steering committee.

Superintendent Cheryl Champ shared in her report that Manhattanville College’s research project on the preparatory effects of standardized testing in partnership with Pelham should be yielding results soon. This study will be used in evaluation of current graduation requirements concerning standardized tests.

Champ also asked community members to give their feedback on the district’s science program, following up on an email sent out Wednesday. The form is part of the Tri State Consortium’s self-evaluation process.

Steven Garcia, assistant superintendent for curriculum, instruction and personnel, said the committee for authentic learning has been meeting to discuss the initiative, focusing on the aspect of efficient use of time. The committee will meet again next Monday. 

The board’s next meeting is Dec. 18 at 8:15 p.m.