As the on the athletic field at gets underway Thursday night at a town hall meeting, district and city officials are speaking out on the proposed project.
In a phone conversation with Patch, Sequoia Union High School District (SUHSD) superintendent Jim Lianides pointed out that Carlmont is the only high school in the district that does not have a lights on its field.
"Menlo-Atherton recently added lights, and the other schools (Sequoia and Woodside) have had them for some time, and we'd like to complete this project so we have similar facilities at all our sites." said Lianides.
Lianides added that lights would also allow the school to enhance its athletic program. "Besides the fun of Friday night football, without lights, winter sports are curtailed."
"Not having lights doesn't allow for a full athletic program; we have to pull kids out of school early for a soccer match or other sporting event during the winter season when it gets dark so early."
"So for academic as well as social reasons, we think lights are needed at Carlmont," Lianides added.
Belmont councilmember is anticipating concerns over the proposed project and will apply the lessons learned in dealing with
"If this project goes forward, we will look for some sort of agreement between the city, school and neighbors to keep an open dialogue going," said Feierbach.
Feierbach hopes that the high school and the city can apply what she calls the "Rita Gleason/NDNU model," of community outreach, referring to the university president's periodic meetings with neighbors concerning noise and traffic issues in the area.
"Rita Gleason has meetings with neighbors every few months to hear their concerns. Even though fewer and fewer people come to the meetings, she continues to hold them," Feierbach said.
In anticipation of noise and parking concerns in the neighborhoods near Carlmont High School, Feierbach said, "We learned our lesson with NDNU. And to prevent problems, we need to talk about concerns and deal with them before they occur."
The town hall meeting to discuss lighting the CHS football field will be held Thursday at 7 p.m. in the school's student union.
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