By THOMAS LUCKIE III

OGDENSBURG – The Ogdensburg City School District Board of Education approved six sports mergers with Heuvelton Central School District at Tuesday’s meeting in anticipation of the upcoming spring sports season.

Mergers were approved for boys and girls spring track at both the modified and varsity levels. Boys lacrosse mergers at the modified and varsity levels were also approved.

Ogdensburg Free Academy Athletic Director Tony Bjork said that 10 students from Heuvelton Central are expected to participate in the merged sports this spring.

Bjork also noted that signups for spring sports at both districts began on Tuesday.

At the close of the meeting, board member Michael Tooley suggested that the district should consider fully funding the purchase of athletic uniforms.

“Currently the school district funds 50 percent of the cost and we expect fundraising to cover the other half of the cost,” Tooley said.

Tooley pointed out that certain sports, such as hockey and baseball, have used the same uniforms for over a decade.

“I see it as a way of being equitable among all the athletic teams and it might be a way to alleviate some of the pressure of fundraising,” he said.

Tooley also expressed general concern over ongoing student fundraising at Ogdensburg Free Academy, particularly at the high school level.

“We had three different time periods where over 10 to 14 days there were two or three groups fundraising at the same time just at the high school level,” Tooley said, in reference to a fundraising analysis of the first half of the current school year.

Tooley suggested that the district should consider limiting fundraising so that only one fundraising activity is going on during any one-week period beginning next school year.