QUESTION FAKE GRASS in LGUSD.

Image of Samuel Liu from his  school newspaper where he wrote an in-depth piece about concerns over the district's artificial turf installations Our elementary school kids are trusting grownups to be educated on the issues and advocate for them.  These kids are trusting LGUSD to make a safe decision here.  However, older students in the community have spoken out themselves in the past against artificial turf. In April 2015, Los Gatos High School student, Zoe Lam, penned this piece: " LGHS needs to listen to its constituents' opinions and concerns.   Plan resulting from Measure E is replacing ALL five athletic fields with artificial turf at LGHS. This is NOT the right choice." A petition started by Lam garnered over 300 signatures.  " Keep Natural Grass on Helm Field...  Grass on LGHS’s football field, Helm Field, should be reinstalled after renovations ."  View the petition to read the numerous and insightful comments from Los Gatos community members...

Will the artificial turf at Los Gatos schools contribute to the contamination of drinking water ?? "We're talking about a massive public health threat...   We're now talking about, probably one of the biggest environmental contamination stories in history, and most of us still don't know about it.   We know about Flint , Michigan -- one water supply.  Yet here, we're talking about something that's in water all over the world, in all of our blood, in animals, polar bears, eagles and we're all just now starting to hear about this, because this information was withheld and covered up for years."  - Robert Bilott, the lawyer who  took DuPont to court over PFAS-contaminated drinking water and won

Students at LGUSD's Lexington Elementary  practice, as explained at ibo.org , being knowledgeable,  open-minded, reflective, critical thinkers. As educators and parents, we know that "everybody else is doing it" is not a valid justification for anything. And, just like we all tell our kids:   In actuality , it is NOT true that "everybody else is doing it"... How does that lesson apply here? Schools and municipalities are NOT all following the masses, succumbing to sales pitches, and proceeding with artificial turf installations. Some are pausing to ask themselves if this is really a wise choice?  Especially in light of expert insights that were not yet available back when  other schools and municipalities chose to install them ?   For example, in 2005 when the Los Gatos Saratoga Union High School District (LGSUHSD) installed one of its first artificial turf fields, it was not widely known how much lead was in some of the fields.  As another example, in...

Image from  safehealthyplayingfields.org Note that this post focuses on crumb rubber infill, one of the most commonly used infills in artificial turf systems.  Fortunately, crumb rubber is NOT being considered a candidate for the infill of artificial turf used in LGUSD .  However, crumb rubber IS used at LGHS and likely in our town's Creekside Park where many of our Los Gatos kids play sports. Safe Healthy Playing Fields, Inc. questions whether letting kids play on artificial turf constitutes a human health experiment on kids. David R Brown Sc.D.  makes the case in this article that there is " A basis for concern and an urgent need for closer scrutiny". David is: a public health toxicologist Director of Public Health Toxicology for Environment and Human Health, Inc.  past Chief of Environmental Epidemiology and Occupational Health at Connecticut's Department of Health  past Deputy Director of The Public Health Practice Group of ATSDR at the National Center...

The above image is from  a non-local mom's Twitter post . However, a Los Gatos mom we spoke to  shared that her son experienced burns  on t he Los Gatos High School synthetic turf field  . A re you familiar with heat issues that come with artificial turf?  Artificial turf, even with plant-based infill, gets HOT.  In the 2020-2021 schoolyear, Los Gatos had 77 days above 80 degrees.   Based on data we collected from a local park, on a sunny, 80-degree Fahrenheit day, artificial turf with cork infill  was 110 degrees ! And it could actually get hotter than that. Check out these datapoints captured by others .   How would you like your 6-year-old playing soccer on a field that's 125 degrees  when the air temperature was only 84 degrees? That was the experience of the 6-year-olds in Rockwood School District. And how about when it's not such a mild day? On a 97-degree Fahrenheit day, an artificial turf field with plant-based infill c...

Image from ehhi.org's  synthetic turf report . Most synthetic turf fields are made of plastic grass infilled with shredded waste tires known as “crumb rubber.”   Environment & Human Health, Inc.   has produced this easily-digestible brochure on " 12 Reasons Why Synthetic Turf Fields Pose a Health Risk ".

Image from ehhi.org's synthetic turf report . There are a host of concerns with artificial turf systems that are filled with (those annoying black) crumbs from recycled rubber tires .  Early in the planning stages of landscape design, LGUSD wisely ruled out crumb rubber as a possible infill choice.  Perhaps we have LGUSD's landscape architect, Verde Design, to thank for this.  Verde Design's architect referred to the crumb rubber infill as carcinogenic at the 11/18/21 LGUSD board meeting.  (Curiously though, crumb rubber appears to be what is in installed at Los Gatos High School fields, projects Verde Design had a hand in.) 👏 👏 👏 While LGUSD appears to have dodged this bullet, issues with crumb rubber infill should be considered when the fields at Creekside and LGHS come due for renovation.   And if your child currently uses fields at  Creekside or LGHS   regularly, proceed with caution.  Watch this and then read on... In February 2016, the ...

Image from  The Mercury News https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/11/14/sierra-club-opposes-artificial-turf-at-los-gatos-schools/ Highlights of the article: There is acknowledgment that environmental concerns of artificial turf may OUTWEIGH the drought mitigation it provides . The local Sierra Club opposes LGUSD's proposed installations of artificial turf.  It's concerned about: kids overheating kids getting burned PFAS "forever" chemicals toxicity pollution of Los Gatos Creek and other bodies of water use of fossil fuels to create plastic grass potential micro-plastic pollution potential gas pollution