By Geena Molinaro, Special Writer
WEST WINDSOR-PLAINSBORO —The Board of Education will put the issue of naming the High School North baseball field after deceased alumnus David Bachner on a future meeting agenda, board President Tony Fleres said in a phone interview on Wednesday evening.
An ad hoc committee, formed in July, was charged with gathering information about naming North’s field and presented a summary of its findings to the board on Tuesday.
David was a record-breaking pitcher for North who died of cardiac arrest in his home in 2009, a few weeks before he started as a freshman at Seton Hall University in South Orange. David had a full scholarship to Seton Hall and was named baseball player of the year by the Trenton Times and the Trentonian in his senior year of high school.
The ad hoc committee reviewed the board’s facility naming policy and held two public forums for community members to share the opinions on naming the baseball field.
Superintendent David Aderhold, who read the report on behalf of assistant superintendent of pupil services/planning Gerard Dalton, said the committee heard 20 comments from people in favor of naming the field after David and one comment against naming the field after David.
Two people spoke at both meetings, Mr. Fleres said, so the board heard from a total of 19 individuals, 18 in favor of and 1 opposed to naming the field after David.
At the end of the committee process, five members voted in support of naming the field after David, two voted against it and one person was undecided, Mr. Aderhold said.
In addition to Mr. Aderhold and Mr. Dalton, committee members included director of athletics Jean Marie Seal, HSN principal Michael Zapicchi, board of education member Michele Kaish, parent Heather Nielsen, parent Ted Phalen and two student representatives.
One of the student representatives did not attend the second public forum and did not submit the final conclusions, which is why there were only eight votes from the committee, Mr. Fleres said.
These results were passed along to the administration and facilities committee will move the topic forward for consideration, the superintendent said. All ad hoc comments were made anonymously, he said.
The administration and facilities committee reviewed the ad hoc committee’s findings and decided to present them to the board, Mr. Fleres said. He said the administration and facilities committee does not have to present the findings to the board, but because these results had merit, the members took it to the entire board.
After the report, Mr. Fleres said naming North’s field was a difficult decision, and there was no right answer. "Reasonable people can disagree" on what should be done, he said.
He asked if other board members would like to comment, but none responded.
Three members of the public, who support naming the field after David, expressed confusion at what would happen next since there had been no board discussion.
Mr. Fleres told them he and the superintendent set the agendas, and they would get a "sense" from the board members about whether or not the facility naming should be discussed at a future meeting.
After the president said this, board member Rachelle Feldman Hurwitz said she was under the impression that the board would vote on the issue in September and she wanted to know if this was accurate.
Another member Scott Powell also said, "in light of the amount of interest in this topic, whether the board thinks we should have a field named after Mr. Bachner or not, we should have a public vote on that."
Ms. Feldman Hurwitz agreed with Mr. Powell’s comment.
During a phone interview on Wednesday evening, Mr. Fleres said he intended to put the item on Sept. 23 agenda. He said he did not want to rush putting a resolution on the agenda and wanted to proceed carefully since this was the first time the board was considering naming an already existing facility after a student.
The item would appear as a resolution, and the board could discuss it, Mr. Fleres said. If, after discussion, a member wanted to make a motion to approve it and someone seconded the motion, the board would publicly vote on it, Mr. Fleres said.
Kurt Baker, parent of deceased North student Kenny Baker who committed suicide in May 2009, also attended the board meeting and shared his concern over naming a facility after any student who has died.
After Kenny’s death, Mr. Baker, his wife and their daughter Katelyn founded Attitudes in Reverse, a non-profit dedicated to educating young people about mental health issues and suicide prevention. Based on his research, Mr. Baker said people have to be cautious about glorifying the death of any student.
Teens who are suicidal suffer from mental pain and have "tunnel vision," Mr Baker said, and they don’t think like others who do not have a mental illness.
If these "vulnerable" teens see a field named after a student who died, they might believe that even if they die they can be "immortalized" in a similar way, he said.
The Bakers are concerned about minimizing student risk since suicide is the second leading cause of death among teenagers, he said. Before the Bakers started their nonprofit, the district lost two students and one teacher to suicide between 2008 and 2010, Mr. Baker said.
He and his wife were hesitant to speak out at first, Mr. Baker said, but other people had approached them about their concerns of naming a facility after a student who died. The Bakers do not wish to have a facility named after Kenny and do not have anything against David, Mr. Baker said.
"It’s hard for us," he said. "We don’t want to do this. We knew David and liked him."
Both young men were members of the class of 2009.
