By THOMAS LUCKIE III

OGDENSBURG -- The Ogdensburg City School District Board of Education approved the adoption of a revised sports mergers policy as well as a previously denied boys varsity hockey merger request from Lisbon Central School District for the 2016-2017 school year at Monday's Meeting.

Initially voted against by all present at a board meeting on Feb. 1, the merger request passed with a 4-2 vote.

The proposal to revisit the previously denied merger was raised during discussions concerning revisions to the sports merger policy at the board's October meeting.

The board agreed to exercise the optional Nov. 7 meeting primarily to vote on the merger request, as practice for many of Ogdensburg Free Academy's winter sports, including hockey, began on Monday.

Athletic Director Anthony Bjork noted that 17 players showed up for the opening hockey practice, although four of the absent players were still practicing with the varsity football team.

Varsity hockey teams are allowed a maximum roster of up to 30 players for practice while only 20 players may "dress" for games.

Discussion points raised by both Bjork and board member James King indicated that it is fairly common practice for student athletes to practice with the varsity hockey team without the expectation of much, if any, playing time during games.

"There is no modified, there is no JV, Ogdensburg Minor Hockey does not have a midget team for our ninth graders to play, so they carry them on the roster for the liability issue, so they do get to skate and understand the system," Bjork said.

King pointed out that Varsity Hockey Coach Jonathan Frederick will clearly notify players early on if there is a chance they will not be suiting up for games.

Criteria under the newly revised policy states that no OFA students will be cut by coaches within the sports program if a merger request is recommended for adoption.

While Board President Ronald Johnson made a motion to revert the criteria concerning player cuts to previous language stating "cuts imposed by the coach of that particular team" in order to be "level specific," the vote was split and the motion failed to carry.

Board member Michael Tooley made a motion to amend the policy to include the caveat that each particular team must essentially demonstrate the inability to field a competitive roster before a merger request is brought to the board, which also did not carry.

"It's a very conservative approach. I think it needs flexibility," Tooley said.

Tooley and fellow board member Renee Grizzuto both voted against the varsity hockey merger with Lisbon Central.

"We have an obligation to our students and our taxpayers, first and foremost," Grizzuto said.

Board member Lawrence Mitchell, who voted no on the last hockey and lacrosse merger requests, expressed the reasoning behind his supportive stance.

"When I attended the coaches meeting, every single coach that was there was in favor of mergers. I have a lot of faith in our coaches. I've got faith in our athletic director, he knows our kids," Mitchell said.

The first criteria of any merger request brought to the board states that the coach, Athletic Director and Superintendent of Schools must support the request.

The revised and approved policy also contains a section stating that "If a merger, in a particular sport, is requested by more than one school it shall be the practice of the district that all school's requests will be honored. If the number of athletes from the school exceeds an acceptable limit, all requests will be denied."

Board members Craig Lalonde, Vicky Peo and Laurie Zweifel were not present at the meeting.