QUESTION FAKE GRASS in LGUSD.

Image from   universityhealthnews.com Do we need to be worried our kids might come down with a staph infection after scraping an elbow or knee playing tag or a game of soccer on LGUSD's proposed artificial turf play fields?   LGUSD's landscape designer lists among the drawbacks of artificial turf that " turf burns can increase the risk of MRSA ". What do turf burns look like? For those unfamiliar, "turf burn" is a skin abrasion resulting from the friction and heat experienced sliding or skidding across artificial turf.   Healthline explains  it may feel as if your skin has been scraped against sandpaper.  While scrapes and scratches from sliding or skidding across natural grass may also cause pain, that pain "may be moderate and subside within hours or days" while in sharp contrast "pain from turf burn can be intense and last for one or two weeks until the abrasion heals." "Turf burn can lead to a staph infection. These infections ar...

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...

Image from Dr. Axe.   The Los Gatan, our local paper, has published another op-ed advocating to keep artificial turf off Los Gatos school campuses.  Find the first here . This recent input comes from  Denise Donnelly ,   a Los Gatos mom of three former child student-athletes, now college/graduate school adults.   Denise  had a very pointed message to share ... "Staph. Constantly recurring.  Don’t go there." Hmmm... Where have we all been cautioned about increased risk of MRSA infections ( the most common form of resistant staph bacteria that’s immune to many antibiotics )?  Oh yeah,  LGUSD's own landscape designer  warned the community about this in the artificial turf pros and cons the district distributed to all LGUSD families.

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 lohud.com article  about ACL tears on artificial turf becoming a youth sports "epidemic" A friend's school-age son here in Los Gatos has irreparably damaged both his knees ( torn both his ACLs,  anterior cruciate ligaments ) playing soccer, so it got me wondering what data there is on soccer injuries related to artificial turf. Here are some concerning findings: This study  set out to " analyze data to compare injury rates on artificial versus natural playing surfaces among high school athletes".  It reports high school athletes were  58 percent more likely to sustain an injury during athletic activity on artificial turf .   " Using UH Sports Medicine Institute's school-based electronic medical record (EMR) system, physician-researchers from University Hospitals,  Case Western Reserve University  and UH Sports Medicine Institute analyzed data collected by 26 high school athletic trainers during the 2017-2018 athletic seasons.  They...

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...