QUESTION FAKE GRASS in LGUSD.

Plastic fields do not belong in LGUSD. No need to take our word for it. Go HERE to see what experts, government agencies, & organizations have to say. Many have communicated directly with LGUSD.

Ph.D. Sarah-Jeanne Royer of  University of California, San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography  urges prohibiting the use of synthetic turf in playgrounds and athletic field surfaces. Because synthetic turfs are made out of polyethylene, they are responsible for emitting methane, CO2, and other  greenhouse gases.  They are therefore potentially contributing to climate change. "Synthetic turf has a huge surface area --much larger than the size of the field-- because of all the small plastic “blades” in this large carpet of fake grass."  This huge surface area emits much higher amounts of greenhouse gases than a flat sheet of polyethylene. As the surface area of plastic continues to increase due to weathering and break-down, there is a tremendous increase in off-gassing of methane.  "For example, [polyethylene] powders off-gas methane 488 times more than when the same weight of [polyethylene] is in pellet form."  "While the negative effects of pl...

Below is a March 2022 letter to LGUSD from  Mt. Sinai's Children's Environmental Health Center . Because there are significant gaps in the evidence supporting the safety of artificial turf products and because children are uniquely vulnerable to harmful exposures from artificial turf surfaces, a moratorium is recommended on the use of artificial turf where children play. "Few studies have assessed potential chemical exposures from the artificial grass blades and backing  materials used on synthetic playing fields. A recent study identified perfluoroalkyl chemicals (PFAS), a  class of chemicals linked to numerous health problems including cancer, nervous system toxicity,  immune dysfunction, thyroid, and cardiovascular disease in the plastic grass blades and backing used  on artificial turf fields." "While it is important to maximize safe play time, we caution against the use of materials which carry the risks of chemical and heat exposure outlined above or have ...

An open letter to stakeholders from Safe Healthy Playing Fields Inc.  

Image from idiomsandslang.com . Are we confident that board members, teachers and administration, and community members explicitly advocating for use of plastic grass on our elementary school campuses  are  well-informed of its pros and cons?   Are we confident they've been presented with alternatives?   Have they been presented with attractive, inviting, low maintenance corridor and courtyard designs without plastic grass?  Have they been presented with  an overly simplistic approach to water conservation on the fields? ? Terese McNamee, Director of Maintenance and Operations Thomas Lettiere, and our landscape designer Devin Conway have all repeatedly stated publicly they have no stake in the game, that they are not advocating for plastic grass, and that they are simply providing options for the  the  decision-makers, the  LGUSD Board of Trustees .  Presumably stakeholders are relying on the LGUSD board and the district t...

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...

If UCSF says we shouldn’t expose children to the heat and chemical repercussions of plastic grass… feels like we should listen. Pediatric health is so important. As parents, we put our children’s well-being before our own. Full letter below. CliffsNotes: Doctors at UCSF do not support the installation of artificial turf at LGUSD schools even if an alternative to crumb rubber is chosen for infill. Increased injury rates, staph infections, and heat index (up to 160 degrees).  Concern regarding children’s exposure, dermal and ingestion, to artificial turf surfaces, with PFAS being of particular concern.  

Background image from FairWarning Attention supporters The petition below was started 11-12-2021 and was closed 1-24-2022.   Please sign our newer petition at https://www.change.org/NoPlasticTurfLGUSD , even if you signed the petition below.   Why?  Because there's reason to be concerned the petition below may have been misconstrued by leadership as primarily representing opposition to tire crumb rubber infill, even though LGUSD, from the start, has been proposing to use an alternative infill product. Thank you for your support!      Backgrounder Los Gatos Union School District is on the verge of making significant changes to its elementary school campus landscapes with regard to play fields, classroom courtyards and outdoor play spaces, including one specifically for kindergarteners. Artificial turf is being considered for many of these surfaces. The district management staff have concluded, without sufficient evidence, that artificial tu...

Image of plastic turf dumped near a wetland from a coalition in a town that now has a moratorium on artificial turf installations . Yes, this is the same Dr. Debbie Tatro that has  taken issue with the artificial turf safety assertions provided by LGUSD's consultant , David Teter. Here is Dr. Tatro's letter to the LGUSD school board:

Image from student Ryan Basso's " The Balance of Opinion " LGUSD district management staff  continue to insist artificial turf is safe d espite assertions from experts and government agencies that it is  premature to conclude artificial turf is safe. LGUSD's conclusion of safety is based, seemingly entirely, on the word of the sole consultant they hired explicitly to provide safety reassurances, David Teter.   Why are district management staff: neglecting to seek out and consider the input of at least one of the  experts that finds it  premature to conclude artificial turf is safe? failing to acknowledge concerns that clearly continue to be held by government agencies?  failing to acknowledge the narrow context of Teter's product analysis? so willing to adopt Teter's advice knowing that not only was  he hired by the artificial turf industry to get  one of our state agencies  to dismiss its concerns, he actually  failed  to do so?...

Image from Mt. Sinai CEHC . The  Children’s Environmental Health Center of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai   strongly discourages artificial turf installations. While the letter below is addressed to another set of decision-makers in another community (yes, there are many communities across the country beseeching their electeds to take a pause before pulling this trigger), these points aren't specific to the community the letter is addressed to.

Posted with his permission, here is the message of an 11/9/21 letter to the LGUSD school board from a Daves Avenue parent... Dear Terese, Mrs. Mittleman, and all others concerned, Thank you for hosting the town hall session last night. I know a lot of work has gone into this by you and your team. Here are the thoughts I left the meeting with – first, 2 general notes about the process, and then 2 specific notes about the plans for Daves Avenue… [For those that don’t know me, I’m a designer (and licensed architect in 5 states) and a dad of 3 girls – one at Daves now and 2 more to follow in the years ahead.] General Notes Transparency - It would be great if the district’s designs could be posted at each of the schools for review by current parents, students, and even community members that may have future students. As is, the plans are hard to read and visualize (even for someone working in the architecture industry). Sadly, combining these issues with the lack of transparent communicatio...

Image from xqsuperschool.org 's advice on "How to write a letter to the school board". Posted with her permission, h ere is an 11/8/21 letter to the LGUSD school board from a Fisher parent... Dear Board Members, I read that you are discussing artificial turf for our Los Gatos school fields. I urge you to reconsider these plans and listen to the voices that lay out the detrimental factors of such a solution. This is a huge decision you are making, and as it seems at the moment, not one that is in favor of health and wellbeing of the people who use the lawn - our children in Los Gatos. The value of nature on our wellbeing and health is being researched more and more in our current times. The soothing effects on our mind, the boosting effects on our immune systems are only a few of the benefits. We don’t need to breed more allergies or autoimmune disorders in children. We don’t need to take away more calming materials and surfaces from our environments. Why would we deprive ...

Image from  scvas.org Highlights from Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society's 11/4/21 letter to the LGUSD school board include the following quotes: We see sterile environments, such as expanses of hardscape and plastic, as hostile to human development and well being.  Schools should surround children with life - native plant gardens, trees, even lawns - not plastic. Access to vegetation and nature, at all scales, is important to the development of children's physical and mental health, senses, curiosity, academics and cognitive ability. Natural play areas improve children’s health, mood, and creativity. Grass and artificial turf both require water; the difference being when you water grass, you water entire ecosystems, including surrounding redwoods and oaks. Louise Van Meter, Daves Avenue, and Blossom Hill are all elementary schools and should foster healthy learning environments, creative spaces, and a connection to nature for our children. There is a global movemen...

Image from Sierra Club's "Outdoors for All" Campaign The Sierra Club Loma Prieta's  first letter to the LGUSD school board  implores them to choose an alternative to plastic grass.  The letter: implores the district to leave fossil fuels in the ground,  draws attention to the 11 student athletes that have recently died from heat stroke, points to PFAS in the human body as sufficient reason alone to reject artificial turf entirely, deems artificial turf a poor investment for its short-lived purpose citing the extreme problem that is microplastic pollution, highlights social justice and equity impacts covering playgrounds with plastic. An excerpt from  Sierra Club Loma Prieta' s   second letter to the LGUSD school board :  "Artificial turf should never be used because it is toxic to watersheds. Microplastics bioaccumulate eventually into food and access the bloodstream through the respiratory system and/or the gastrointestinal tr...

In an op-ed published in the 12/8/21 local newspaper "Los Gatan" (both the online and hardcopy editions),  Los Gatos resident Giulianna Pendleton urges LGUSD to "Prioritize children over plastic"... Read on the Los Gatan website or below.