QUESTION FAKE GRASS in LGUSD.

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 to have thoroughly researched the  options being presented to

Image from ehhi.org's  synthetic turf report . It is a misconception that LGUSD has  adequately addressed safety concerns by  proposing to use an artificial turf system with an alternative infill to recycled tire crumb.   CA Dept of Toxic Substances Control is not yet ready to conclude artificial turf is non-toxic even if consumers use a version without recycled tires in it. The department is currently working on an evaluation . The information below remains true for artificial turf installations both with and without recycled tire crumb infill. Safe Healthy Playing Fields, Inc. (SHPFI)  reports  "The fact is, no government agency has concluded artificial turf is safe - not the Environmental Protection Agency nor the Consumer Product Safety Comission .  Only the industry which gains financially from your use of these fields has paid consultants to conclude safety from very limited, inconclusive tests. There are no tests showing synturf is safe. There are only tests that canno

Share your input with the decision-makers, the LGUSD Board of Trustees. Images from lgusd.org Implore LGUSD to do these 2 things: Keep artificial turf OFF elementary school campuses ENTIRELY. Rescind the conclusion from the November 2021 district staff report that artificial turf is safe for use on school campuses.  This conclusion can not be drawn from the evidence available.  There remain an abundance of serious causes for concern.  Even California's Department of Toxic Substances Control is questioning the safety of artificial turf including versions NOT made with recycled tires researching artificial turf as part of its 2021-2023 Priority Product Work Plan. LGUSD has NOT sufficiently addressed artificial turf safety concerns by proposing to use a version made without recycled tires. Take action here .

Image from  2021-2023 Priority Product Work Plan CA Dept of Toxic Substances Control is evaluating whether artificial turf should be classified as a product that needs to be labelled as toxic. The agency has added artificial turf to its 2021-2023 Priority Product Work Plan for research and study to determine whether it needs to be added as a Priority Product.   If the agency concludes artificial turf is a Priority Product, it will become a requirement for manufacturers to label the toxic chemicals in it so that consumers are aware.    The fact the product is under investigation indicates artificial turf may be lacking in adequate regulation. Below is the text regarding artificial turf that appears in the final plan. Note that the toxicity concerns are not limited to tire crumb rubber. CA Dept of Toxic Substances Control is not yet ready to conclude artificial turf is non-toxic even if consumers use a version without recycled tires in it. If our own state agency is not yet ready t

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 oppos

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.

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.  

Share your input with the decision-makers, the LGUSD Board of Trustees. Images from lgusd.org LGUSD is developing plans to build "Outdoor Classrooms" in elementary school courtyards using artificial turf as one of the primary surfaces.   By installing artificial turf, LGUSD risks adding more  heavy metals and  chemicals , particularly PFAS which is found to be  contaminating drinking water ,  to the environment.   PFAS can  poison humans  over time, even in very low doses, because it bioaccumulates.   LGUSD, let's follow the precautionary principle and landscape without artificial turf.  The precautionary principle is a cost-effective way to minimize pollution and environmental damage.   Taking artificial turf off the menu of landscaping materials would demonstrate value for public health.  It would also demonstrate environmental stewardship, which LGUSD calls out as one of the guiding principles for this project. FAQ: What can I do if I am not supportive of LGUSD's

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 turf is safe and should be considered as s

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

Image from businessinsider.com Think installing plastic grass constitutes doing your part to respond to climate change?  Think again.   Trace that messaging back to its source.  The source is NOT  Santa Clara Valley Water District (SCVWD).  The source is most likely an entity that profits  when you buy an artificial turf system... probably someone in the petroleum industry, plastics  industry , chemical  industry  or artificial turf industry.   The companies polluting the planet have spent millions to make you think carpooling and recycling will save us . These companies have also spent millions to make you think installing plastic grass will save us. If you have fallen under the spell of those that make money when you buy plastic grass, it's time to wake up.  Plastic grass is NOT an environmentally-responsible way to deal with drought . Our water district, SCVWD, like other districts throughout the state: promotes water conservation does NOT promote artificial turf SCVWD explains