| Schools - Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Board edges M-A closer to night games
by Dave Boyce
The long tradition of daytime-only football games at Menlo-Atherton High School is under intensifying scrutiny.
As wary Atherton neighbors argue for a go-slow approach out of concern for unwanted noise, light and possibly crime intruding into their community during night games, M-A's football and lacrosse boosters are pushing for lights.
The governing board of the Sequoia Union High School District on Wednesday, Jan. 20, unanimously approved a $31,000 two-month environmental-impact study by Menlo Park-based TRA Environmental Sciences.
The study will assume the use of permanent lights and will include conversations with all stakeholders, including neighbors, officials at M-A, and possibly contacts in local government, school district spokeswoman Bettylu Smith said via e-mail.
In a nod to the complexity of the issue, the Sequoia board in its initial look at the matter in November had discussed the possibility of long-term use of temporary lights.
Portable generator-driven lights run about $2,500 per use, Ms. Smith said. Clean and quiet "higher quality" temporary lights tied to the electrical grid would cost between $30,000 and $50,000 per year, she said. Permanent lights would cost the district about $250,000.
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