High School athletics off to a running start under Pignone
Published on November 21st, 2007
STONEHAM, MA - Stoneham High School Athletic Department is off to a running start according to its new Athletic Director David Pignone.
The SHS former athlete and graduate addressed the School committee on November 8 to introduce himself as well as to speak about some of the goals he has for Stoneham High School sports. Pignone recently took over the reins of heading the athletic department from long time AD Mike Lahiff who left the system earlier this year for a position in Watertown. Pignone grew up in Stoneham, leaving briefly for college and a teaching stint in Connecticut. He is now back in the fold and raising his own family in Stoneham. He holds certification in teaching physical education and health, and this is his first Athletic Director position.
“I can't express enough how thrilled I am to take this opportunity to give back to the community that has given so much to me in athletics as well as education.”
One of Pignone's goals for the Stoneham High's athletic program is to garner support and work with the many youth sports programs in town. Bridging the gap between high school and youth sports is crucial for ongoing success of the high school program as well as for the athletes themselves.
“My opinion is that the high school coaches are experts in the field,” who can support and mentor youth coaches and programs by running clinics for coaches and camps for kids. In addition, SHS sports should be inviting the youth program participants to high school games and events and nurturing that relationship.
“I think we're going to start losing less kids going off to private schools...They'll kind of grow hoping to someday be that Stoneham Spartan.”
The Stoneham High School soccer program has already begun reaching out to the Stoneham Soccer Club and vice versa.
“The soccer program is doing the right stuff,” he said, and the proof of its success is the hundreds of kids in town participating in the soccer program.
“Success doesn't just come from wins and losses. There are a lot of other things that I think you judge success on...We're trying to get all the sports to do that.”
Another area Pignone plans to concentrate on is enhancing the Middle School athletic program. He would love so see intramurals come back, as well as offer a wider range of physical education classes. Getting students involved in various sports at the Middle School level, such as girls field hockey, will likely make a high school team a certainty.
Finally, the School Committee approved a boys cooperative swim team with Reading High School. Pignone said a paperwork mix-up earlier in the year delayed the process, but with this School Committee action, the two Stoneham High athletes who are signed up and ready for competition will be back in the water soon in Reading. Since it is a cooperative program, any Stoneham swimmer who joins the team will receive a Stoneham High letter for participating, although the user fee will be paid to Reading, and Stoneham students will provide their own transportation.
In other news, School Superintendent Dr. Les Olson presented to the School Committee a draft of the the school system's five year capital plan, and explained some of the changes.
Missing from the plan previously that Olson has now added is a listing of completed projects.
“We know things are tight, there is no doubt about it. Sometimes you tend to throw up your hands and say, 'We can never get anything done.' So it's good to keep in front of us the commitment the town has made to help us maintain some of our facilities and equipment...I think it is important to add that section to keep in mind what we have been able to do.”
Projects not included in the plan are those which do not meet the town's newest standard for capital projects. At last spring's Town Meeting, voters redefined capital items as those costing $10,000 or more and having a 3-year life span. Projects that were once listed in the capital plan but do not meet these higher standards, are now included in the maintenance section of the annual budget.
The new, higher standard, Olson said, makes it a cleaner report and helps increase focus on maintenance issues.
While that in itself does not necessarily make the money appear to address the projects, Olson did have some good news regarding the process for state aid.
Since the school building assistance program that allowed Stoneham to build four new elementary schools several years ago, Massachusetts has revised its program for towns looking to garner state aid for large projects.
Accordingly, Olson said bundling smaller projects together into larger ones to submit to the state for reimbursement through the new process, may help Stoneham address some of the deferred maintenance issues that have plagued the school system for years.
After visiting the Middle School and High School with Facilities Manager Max French, as well as revisiting the 2002 Middle School Feasibility study, Olson has begun working on a draft request for state reimbursement for projects needed in each school building. When the state next opens its window for such “state of interest reports” to be submitted, the Stoneham School Department will be ready to see if it qualifies for aid to help maintain and sustain its two old buildings.
“I want to ask state to come out and listen to us about issues at both places. It only makes sense to garner state support,” Olson said.
An example of a consolidated project would be one that lists the various problems at the Middle School including HVAC repairs, window replacement, and addressing the underground oil tank
While the reimbursement rate was fixed in the days of Stoneham's elementary school projects, nowadays the state uses a range of reimbursement percentages, what Olson described as a shopping list of different percentage points, for various projects, from 40 to 75 percent reimbursement.
It's clearly something that needs to be done,” said School Committee chairman Maureen Soley.
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