HANOVER — As the Town Board looks ahead to this summer, one thing on their mind is the Hanover Youth Recreation program. Traditionally held in the park at the village of Silver Creek, members of the board, including Trustee Lou Pelletter would prefer it, but don’t think it’s realistic due to distancing guidelines.

“We would have problems with social distancing and masks,” Pelletter said. “I’m in favor of having it in the ballpark, the younger people in the group want to have it in the ballpark, but other people want to do it at the school.”

Originally, the program was being discussed as being run using half days because of distancing issues, which Pelletter said no one seemed in favor of. After sitting down with Silver Creek Mayor Jeff Hornburg and Silver Creek School Superintendent Todd Crandall, it seems there will be another option: Hosting the youth recreation program at Silver Creek Central School.

“I’m in favor of having it at the school,” Pelletter said. “They know more about kids than we do.”

A big deciding factor for why Hornburg and Pelletter are in favor of the school is how well equipped they are to deal with COVID-19 restrictions technologically. Crandall noted this as a strength of his school as well.

“We as a school system have been on the front lines of dealing with social distancing, temperature taking, and wearing masks,” Crandall said. “It was good for them to see how well equipped we are. Our kids have been wearing masks all day every day since September. The school is prepared, and it was helpful for them to see what we’ve been doing.”

Crandall said that he, Hornburg, and the Town Board keep in close contact about the state of things, and Crandall is looking forward to improving the already well established relationship with the Town and Village.

“We had a brainstorming session,” Crandall said. “We have good relations with both the village and town, and we’ll work together to support each other. If it gets to the point where they decide to have it here, I’ve spoken with the Elementary School Principal and school board, and we said we could make it work. The more we work together, the better program we’ll get.”

The opportunity to host the Youth Recreation Program at the school is appreciated by Pelletter and the Hanover Town Board as well, as it opens up the opportunity to not only host kids the full day, but as restrictions change, could open the door for field trips and other opportunities through the school.

“Todd is going to go out of his way to help us out so we can do this program,” Pelletter said. “He gave us a tour of the building and they already have everything set up as if it is full COVID. They have screens, everything set up distance wise, and all the kids wearing masks. I’m thinking for this year, if he will help us like he said he will help us, then we should have it at the school.”

The biggest advantage to hosting it at the school really comes down to space. Crandall said that while they don’t have the ball fields and creek like the Village Park would, they do have space necessary to distance, as well as outdoor space kids can use, and backup plans in case the weather is bad one day.

“We have barriers up, and we have a canopy in our back courtyard for an outdoor learning space,” Crandall said. “We also have the playgrounds behind the school, and if there is inclement weather, we can use the gym, cafeteria and classrooms.”

Challenges still facing the town for the Youth Recreation program include transportation of any interested Forestville students to Silver Creek. Pelletter noted that he would reach out to the Forestville Central School District to see if they would be willing to provide transportation from Forestville to Silver Creek.

“All they would have to do is go back and forth from Silver Creek,” Pelletter said. “The kids would be picked up at a central location. I think it’ll work.”

In addition, Pelletter said they need counselors and supervisors for the Hanover Youth Recreation Program. More information about the Youth Recreation program can be found at their Facebook page, Hanover Youth Recreation.