GLOVERSVILLE – The city Recreation Commission will work with the Gloversville Enlarged School District starting later this month to provide more activities for children and the entire community.
“Since we are partners and dealing with kids, I wanted to have a seat on the Recreation Commission and have our athletic director sit there so maybe we can cooperate and see how we can work together on things,” Superintendent Michael Vanyo said about the opportunity.
Vanyo said he would like the district’s Athletic Director, Mike DeMagistris, to sit on the commission.
If DeMagistris is unable to attend, another school administrator would fill the spot.
The representative from the district will be a non-voting member of the commission.
“Especially here with recreation, they are mostly our kids so we might be able to partner on different things that they are doing,” Vanyo said. “We can help them build programs, help them find things to do for kids, and I was just thinking with recreation they are going to be dealing with school aged kids and we deal with them everyday, so I figured we could partner and see how we can work together.”
Vanyo said in the event the commission would like to use some of the district’s facilities, that can be arranged.
“The school is for the community,” Vanyo said. “If the Recreation Commission was going to put a program together during the summer, maybe we could do it at one of the schools, if that made it easier.”
DeMagistris said the district partnering with the commission is a great opportunity.
“I remember growing up as a kid spending a lot of time at Darling Field doing various activities,” DeMagistris said. “If we are able to partner with the city, we could do those activities right up here at the school because we have access to the pool, we have access to fields and could do different things throughout the year to benefit our youth that they may not be a part of if we didn’t partner with the city.”
DeMagistris said if the commission were to use the pool, that would require a lifeguard to be on hand.
The new partnership with the school district could make organizing and holding events easier in the future, Chairman Jeffrey Ashe said.
“I think this is a continuation of our interest to work with other groups,” Ashe said. “We established a relationship with the senior center and our youth members as well and have been contacted by local businesses and area churches, so having the school district partner with us makes a lot of sense. They have a lot facilities, ideas and access to get the word out there.”
Ashe said the other members of the community – including businesses and churches – are welcome to any commission meeting to provide input.
The Recreation Commission will hold its next meeting April 25 at 7 p.m. in City Hall.
“Having the athletic director or another official of the school district will be beneficial to the city because if we want to have anything at one of their fields or borrow equipment from the district it will be good to work collaboratively,” Mayor Dayton King said. “This is a great opportunity for both sides.”
Levi Pascher covers Gloversville news. He can be reached by email at [email protected].
