Dist. 211 schools will get artificial turf
The 11 community members who urged Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 to install artificial turf in athletic stadiums had their wishes granted Thursday night by the school board.
The turf advocates said it is more weather-resistant and safer. Band members wouldn't have to worry about slipping in mud while carrying heavy tubas.
Fremd football coach Mike Donatucci said more than half his school's students would benefit, and that it was cheaper than buying land to build a new stadium.
John Kent said his son's baseball career ended because of a shoulder injury on a Fremd grass field.
"Safety is non-negotiable," he said.
Beth Kinsella said the dirt pile masquerading as a field at Fremd was the butt of jokes from visitors sitting in the bleachers. Passing is impossible.
"It's so bumpy and hard, it's not even a true soccer game," she said.
No members of the public spoke out against artificial turf. The school board voted 6 to 1 in favor of turf at all five schools, with Bill Lloyd voting no.
Lloyd said with 25 percent of district students not meeting state requirements on the Prairie State Achievement Exams, the district's priorities shouldn't be with athletics, despite the need for the surfaces.
Fremd and Schaumburg high schools will get first dibs as the board also approved further engineering work for $58,000 at each school.
Superintendent Roger Thornton said he expects the fields to be ready by the fall, with new turf at Conant, Hoffman Estates and Palatine next year. Officials estimate it will cost $1.3 million at each school, for a $6.5 million total. The money for the project comes from an early 2000s property sale to Palatine Elementary School District 15 and settlement money from asbestos removal cases over the last two years, school officials said.
Officials stressed the money did not come from the 2005 tax increase which saved several extracurricular activities from being cut. The cost of maintenance was not provided.
Scott Tripahn of W-T Engineering, who is also president of the Hoffman Estates park board, said engineers from the village of Palatine and city of Schaumburg approved their drainage plans for Schaumburg and Fremd high schools. He said there was room for a 67-yard-long soccer field and an eight-lane track at each stadium.
The board in February approved plans to pay W-T $27,000 for site plans for turf at all five school stadiums. The type of turf has yet to be decided.
Thornton said the board would try to be eco-friendly, and avoid the use of ground rubber tires, which can't be placed in landfills.
Thornton also said practice fields would see less traffic, as the stadiums could be used more. School officials say currently the grass fields see only 5 percent of potential use, because they need to preserve the grass for marquee events. With turf, that would rise to 78 percent.
Thornton also noted how many groups plow through the grass during summer preseason practice. Some bands are even relegated to practice on black asphalt under the summer sun.
"We kill them in August -- we absolutely kill them in August," he said.
The district had looked into the turf in 2002, but because it was out of money, the board suspended the effort.
Older, carpet-style turf systems have been blamed for an assortment of injuries, and they have been the subject of lawsuits against turf manufacturers by injured parties. District 211 officials say the newer turf systems are safer and last longer. School officials say the turf should be replaced every five years.
In addition, there have been concerns about MRSA, as the drug-resistant staph infection is transmitted through open cuts and abrasions. Athletes playing on turf suffer more cuts. However, a 2005 study by the New England Journal of Medicine concluded that the spread of the infection has more to do with athletes keeping their wounds clean. That study focused on the NFL's St. Louis Rams, which play their home games indoors on artificial turf.
Turf: Schaumburg, Fremd get first dibs on new surface