Published August 21, 2019

By DAN TOMASELLO

LYNNFIELD — As education costs continue to rise and new revenue growth keeps trending downward, school officials are looking to find new ways to offset expenses.

In an interview with the Villager, School Committee Chairman Jamie Hayman said school officials want to have a small group of companies participate in a field sponsorship initiative at Lynnfield High School’s Pioneer Stadium.

“The goal of the field sponsorships is to help the schools get ahead of the financial reality that there is not a lot of new revenue growth in Lynnfield,” said Hayman. “I believe we have a fiduciary responsibility to try and offset some of the rising costs in the schools and thus put a little less of the burden on Town Meeting funding. We are working with the support of the Board of Selectmen. Town Administrator Rob Dolan’s experience as mayor of Melrose has been invaluable.”

Hayman noted he has been meeting with “locally-based companies to gauge interest in corporate sponsorships” at Pioneer Stadium.

“The response has been positive,” said Hayman. “We would like to have sponsors secured this fall. If a request for proposals (RFP) is necessary for all or parts of the project, we would like to issue it early this fall.”

Hayman said school officials “are looking to secure up to four sponsors” for Pioneer Stadium. He envisions there would be a sponsor for the field, press box, scoreboard and the amenities building. He said a bank ATM could be installed at the high school athletic complex as part of the sponsorship program.

“Triton, Newburyport and Gloucester have all taken this approach to help fund their new fields or support other parts of the schools,” said Hayman. “It is important to note that we will not sell naming rights to any of our school facilities. We are also limiting the number of sponsorships so as to not distract from the student-athletes on the fields.”

Hayman said the field sponsorships could be used to offset rising costs for areas such as athletic transportation, which he noted has “risen faster than expected.” While the DPW is in charge of busing, the School Department pays for athletic transportation costs.

In addition to trying to offset rising school-related costs, Hayman noted the School Committee will be kicking off a fundraising drive this fall in order to address three capital improvement projects. He said the School Committee would like to see new tennis courts installed at LHS and improvements be made to the auditoriums at the high school and middle school.

“There are a number of facilities projects in town that I categorize as urgent, but not fiscally possible,” said Hayman. “They are not in good shape, but we simply cannot afford them in our annual budget. I believe that the town can, and should, fundraise for these projects as they impact the entire community. Two such projects are the LHS courts and the LMS/LHS auditorium improvements.”

Hayman said Lynnfield High’s tennis courts “are in rough shape” and “need to be replaced.” The high school’s boys’ and girls’ tennis teams have been playing home meets at the LMS tennis courts, which were resurfaced two years ago.

“Replacing the current courts with five new courts will allow our state championship-level tennis program to hold home matches and provide a space for recreational tennis that can be enjoyed by the community,” said Hayman.

Hayman said the auditoriums at the middle school and the high school “need to be upgraded with combinations of lighting, sound and curtains.”

“Our students put on award-winning shows and our community uses these spaces for meetings and other events,” said Hayman. “We need them to be the best they can be.”

In order to accomplish both objectives, Hayman said the School Committee will be “putting together fundraising committees at the beginning of the school year.”

“We are setting an aggressive goal to accomplish both of these projects within a year, and use what we learn to identify and complete more projects in the future,” said Hayman.

Additionally, Hayman has had “a few conversations with large corporations that are interested in working with the schools to improve labs, robotics, technology and more.”

“These conversations usually originate from a parent or community member who would like their company to get involved,” said Hayman. “We welcome those opportunities to improve the schools without burdening the taxpayers.”

If residents are interested in getting involved with the different school initiatives, they should email Hayman at jamiehayman@yahoo.com.