Greenport Resident Volleys for Tennis Court Access

At meeting at in Greenport on Saturday, about 30 people signed a petition to allow community members to use and track during school hours. Greenport resident Kate McDowell said that she will present the petition to the Greenport School Board of Education at their next monthly meeting on Wednesday.

McDowell said she was encouraged after the meeting because she had received many emails and text messages asking about the question of community usage of school facilities during school hours.

McDowell, a North Fork resident of more than 30 years, was dismayed to have Greenport Schools' superintendent Michael Comanda ask her to leave the school's tennis courts last week. Comanda told her that school property was unavailable to the community during school hours. McDowell, who is spearheading a movement to keep the grounds open during all hours, says she had been playing since the courts were built 13 years ago, adding that the former superintendent Charles Kozora would wave to her as he entered the school for a day's work.

The village donated the money to build the courts as well as to resurface the track, circa 1989 according to former mayor David Kapell.

Greenport School Board of Education president Tina Volinski said she was open to hearing both sides of the story at Wednesday's meeting and said she looked forward to finding a way the community and the school could work together.