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FOXBORO - An unresolved security personnel issue at Gillette Stadium has led to an unusual delay in the town's approval of the New England Patriots home game schedule.

Selectmen voted unanimously Tuesday to license the MIAA High School Super Bowls on Dec. 5, the third year those games will be played at the stadium.

But the board postponed - tentatively to July 27 - any action on the Kraft Group's application for Patriots home games.

Asked by selectmen if the delay will cause a problem, stadium Vice President Dan Murphy said the stadium organization has never denied the town's request for security details or equipment.

George Bell, chairman of the stadium advisory committee, said he's "impressed with the approach" police and fire chiefs and the stadium are taking concerning a new "template" for security deployments. The board has held a series of closed session meetings in recent weeks, including Tuesday night, concerning "deployment of security personnel at Gillette Stadium."

Chairman Paul Feeney said the board does not mean to be "cryptic" about the postponement of the Patriots license for the 2009 home season, but for now the issue cannot be publicly discussed.

Minutes the board released from its May 26 executive session say a feeling exists among local police "that Kraft would like to have the state police replace the Foxboro officers."