Michael Izzo

@MIzzoDR

EAST HANOVER – The New York Jets are donating half a million dollars to the Hanover Park Regional High School District to fund two new football fields.

Representatives for the Jets will present Hanover Park Regional Superintendent Carol Grossi and other district officials with a $500,000 check at the Board of Education meeting Wednesday night.

The money, donated through the Jets Foundation and NFL Foundation’s Field Grant program, will be used to build new turf football fields at both the Whippany Park and Hanover Park high schools.

The high school district serves students in East Hanover, Hanover Township, and Florham Park, where the Jets practice facility is located.

Hanover Park Regional Director of Curriculum Maria Carrell said the district met with the Jets last summer to discuss opportunities to help the schools and Jets Community Relations Director Jesse Linder pointed them to the NFL matching grants program.

The district submitted two grants, one for each high school, for $250,000 each in October 2015.

To be eligible for the matching grants, the district had to be able to match the funds. The Board of Education fulfilled that requirement by passing a $9.8 million referendum in 2013 that would not only fund the two football fields, but additional athletic improvements to tracks, tennis courts, baseball and softball fields, and parking lots.

The district found out the Jets and the NFL would grant them the money for both fields last month.

“Providing safe opportunities and facilities for youth to play football is extremely important to the entire New York Jets organization,” New York Jets President Neil Glat said, adding heavy use on the high school’s current fields created unsafe playing conditions that were cost-prohibitive to fix.

In addition to new turf, the grants will bring new lighting and fencing to Hanover Park, and new bleachers and fencing to Whippany Park.

“This money enables us to give our students two state of the art, organic cork-filled multi-purpose fields as well as contributing to other athletic and field enhancements,” Grossi said.

The new fields will also be used year-round by physical education classes, additional high school athletic teams, and town recreation youth and adult programs.

Both fields are expected to be ready for the start of the fall football season.

Staff Writer Michael Izzo: 973-428-6636; mizzo@GannettNJ.com