To the Editor:
I just finished reading the Field Fund’s Letter to the Editor dated Jan. 29, and need to reply.
This discussion has been going for four years, during that time one entire class has gone through the MVRHS having to play on the substandard fields we currently have.
Two highly respected engineering firms that specialize in designing athletic fields were hired. Gale Associates and Huntress Associates both completed a needs assessment of the MVRHS fields, and concluded that the existing grass fields cannot survive the current usage being placed on them. They both advised adding a synthetic turf field to our campus.
Evidence has shown that turf fields are not a health hazard, the organic infill being specified solves the heat issue, that the fourth-generation turf fields are fully recyclable, and turf is less expensive over a 10-year period than the three grass fields required to equal the usage of one turf field.
The other point the Field Fund neglected to mention in its letter is that to achieve the lower numbers they need to allow grass to survive, the use of the high school fields must be limited to high school students only. This will mean the high school will not allow our children to use the playing fields until they enter ninth grade, and not allow them on the fields after they graduate.
I agree with our superintendent, Mr. D’Andrea, that the high school is a resource paid for by all of us and is an Island center that should be open to the public.
The discussion of does the Island want turf or grass is not the job of the MVRHS school board to decide. That issue should be determined before the M.V. Commission. It is time to take this to the MVC, let them review the facts, and render a decision.
We are not kicking a can down the road in this debate. It is our kids we are kicking down the road. They deserve better.
Terry Donahue
Edgartown
Donahue is the co-founder of MV@Play. –Ed.