Superintendent: School Department Knew Baseball Field Would Cost More Than $500,000

Superintendent Paul Kadri said Monday he knew the baseball field improvements at Fitch High School would cost more than the $500,000 from an anonymous donor, and he took a calculated risk in going forward.

Kadri told a packed Board of Education meeting that bids for the project came in well over the donated amount, but he had to build the field to meet the requirements of the New England Collegiate Baseball League.

Kadri said he went to the league and the team agreed to borrow the approximately $150,000 difference. Kadri said he knew there was a chance the money would not materialize. The Mystic Schooners moved to Groton this summer, as the field was being finished.

Now the bills are due but the vendors are not being paid. 

Kadri said he wants to use federal Department of Defense money, which the schools have, to pay the bills until it’s sorted out. He said an auditor told him he can do this and there's nothing wrong with it.

“I have no desire to wear horizontal stripes in life," he said. "I am very fiscally conservative."

The league did not return calls to discuss the project last week and could not be reached Monday night.

Kadri said he does not want the team to go into default and wants it to stay in Groton. He said he took the risk because he knew Groton would get a $650,000 baseball field at a maximum cost of $150,000, and he’d do it again.

“Let me make myself very clear. I stand before you proud of that decision,” he said.

“I also want to point out that hidden in all of this, is the generous, absolutely generous donation of a local resident who committed a minimum of $500,000 to this project,” he said.

Andrew Parella, chairman of the political action committee Friends for Affordable Education, said the group filed a Freedom of Information request last week seeking all public records, including any recorded data, e-mails, faxes or text messages about cost overruns, work order changes or adjustments to the baseball field improvements.

He said the money will come from taxpayers, whether it’s town or federal money.

“There is a definitely problem here,” he said.

Wes Greenleaf, director of buildings and grounds for Groton Public Schools, said last week that the field ultimately cost $574,000.

The school department filed a request earlier this month . Because of set back requirements and then confusion among the contracted architects, the dugout was built blocking the view of left field from the press box.