Recapping a Busy Week of High School Coverage

Reactions poured in throughout the week as the dust settled following the filing of two appeals that school and town officials said will cause delays and also cost taxpayers additional money.

In case you missed anything, here's a look back at the coverage provided by Wilmington Patch in recent days.

Saturday, July 28

Initial details began to trickle in following word that two appeals of the Department of Environmental Protection's approval of the project were filed before the July 27 deadline.

George Lingenfelter, one of the appealing residents,. 

“This is all the fault of Michael Caira and the Board of Selectmen. They are trying to bully their way through the whole thing,” said Lingenfelter. “None of these problems would exist if it were not for the way they approached the project. There would be no appeal if we had had the chance to look at this for a year.”

Monday, July 30

, which they said will likely delay the project for months and cause the cost to increase significantly.

“Obviously I am disappointed,” said Board of Selectmen chairman Newhouse. “These folks are intent on being disruptive and obstructionists. That is my opinion. At this point we have to let our attorneys and technical people prevail on the appeal. What’s really a shame is the amount of time and money that this going to cost the town, but I have every confidence that the town is going to prevail.”

Tuesday, July 31

, and said that while people may be upset, it is within the residents' rights to appeal the school.

“You have a process going on right now which to a lot of people might be frustrating,” said Miceli. “This is the process. We can dislike it, but these folks, good or bad, have the legal right to do what they’re doing. I’m not happy about it. It seems to be never ending.”

Wednesday, August 1

One of the ways the appeals are having an .

Wilmington teams were initially slated to play home games out of town as necessary while the artificial turf was installed. But with no construction, teams will likely play home games at Alumni Stadium.

"Based on the information I have, we will most likely have our regular schedule with fall sports," said Superintendent of Schools Joanne Benton. "It is the students who are losing out. We were so looking forward to hosting the Thanksgiving game on our new field."

Friday, August 3

Later in the week, with the structure of the laws that have allowed for the current delays.

“The whole idea of the laws is to allow due process,” said Newhouse. “There is abuse of any system. But the threshold to abuse the process with tactics, that bar just is not high enough.”

Kevin MacDonald, the appeal spokesman, also weighed in on Friday as he defended his 14-resident appeal.

“Sometimes people try to say, ‘Oh well there are only 10 people who want to appeal,’ but I could have gotten hundreds of signatures if I put the time in,” said MacDonald, who said if the laws need a change, it’s in the other direction. “I actually think it should only be one person needed to start an appeal.”

Saturday, August 4

Though Fourth of July is still 11 months away, the .

“The appeals are leaving us in limbo a little bit as to when we have to make adjustments to our celebration,” said Fourth of July Committee chairman Scott Garrant. “We have a pretty good idea of what we hope to be able to do during construction years and once the new school is completed. It’s just a matter of when we will have to implement those plans in light of the appeals.”

For up to the minute updates on the appeals process, be sure to follow Wilmington Patch on Facebook and Twitter, and subscribe to our daily newsletter. Do you have an opinion on the debate? Start a blog in our Local Voices section and let your thoughts be known.