Artificial Turf Field at Richard Montgomery: Some Answers

All,
On November 1, 2010 Bob Astrove posted here about the 19 bags of crumb rubber he saw lined up at Richard Montgomery HS.  He posted the following questions:

1. Why did this relatively new [artificial turf] field require an additional 19 bags of infill (aka crumb rubber)?
2. Does the fact that the field had to have a replacement of 19 bags of infill mean that the equivalent of 19 bags has been washed into the Chesapeake Bay watershed over the last two years?
3. Did Montgomery County Public Schools pay for these 19 bags of infill? What was the cost?
4. Did Montgomery County Public Schools pay for the supplier to spread the contents of the bags using their equipment? How much did this cost?
5. How often will additional infill material be required at Richard Montgomery?

On November 15, 2010 or thereabouts I sent an email to the County Council requesting answers to those questions.  I received these answers today.  Here is the email response, thanks to Mr. Keith Levchenko, Senior Legislative Analyst with the County Council (below).

Paula Bienenfeld, Education Committee Chair, Montgomery County Civic Federation
----
Paula:
I asked MCPS staff to respond to your questions. They spoke with FieldTurf staff and the answers are below. I apologize for the delay in getting back to you.


1. How much did the 19 bags cost taxpayers?
- No Cost. FieldTurf added the infill under warranty.

2. How much crumb rubber was in the bags, by weight?
- Approximately 2,000 lbs per bag


3. How was the crumb rubber in the 19 bags applied to the field?
- A spreader and brush were used to apply the crumb rubber to the field.


4. Where did the crumb rubber go that was in the original field? Did it go into the storm drains?
- FieldTurf Response:

“The field settled because not enough infill was put in initially or had rubber removed due to plowing (this is 99.9% of the reason for low infill rates). Sometimes at installation due to a variety of reasons (weather, static electricity, operator error etc), not all infill is put into the field that is needed. Also snow plowing fields can lead to rubber removal if not done correctly.* We decided to just infill it to the proper level under warranty instead of inquiring about snow removal techniques. However, if it happens again, more then likely it will be the result of improper snow plowing. One of the major reasons that Montgomery County only installs Fieldturf is the pervious backing coupled with our patented infill. By not having holes in the backing to be pervious, and combined with its patented infill, the Fieldturf infill does not migrate from the field vertically or laterally like many of our competitors. No infill from a Fieldturf field is lost to the Storm Sewers.”

5. If so, is a permit required to allow 19 bags worth of used auto and truck tires to be dumped into the Chesapeake Bay, and does MCPS have this permit?
- No permit was required for adding the infill to the RM field. Also, see answer to #4 above.


Keith Levchenko
Senior Legislative Analyst
Montgomery County Council Staff

*According to MCPS staff, the RM field was not plowed last year

Wall Street Journal on MCPS cites Parents' Coalition

WSJ: Data-Driven Schools See Rising Scores
by John Hechinger

...But a group called the Parents Coalition of Montgomery County questions the millions of dollars spent on technology. The group says the system's emphasis on closing the achievement gap between whites and minorities has shortchanged gifted students and those with disabilities. The parents also complain that the frequent use of standardized tests, beginning in grade school, stifles creativity and is crowding out the arts.

Robert Schaeffer, public education director of the National Center for Fair & Open Testing, which has been a longtime critic of standardized assessments, echoes those concerns. He says school districts like Montgomery risk neglecting broader holistic measures of critical thinking that can't easily be tracked on a database. "Education is narrowed to little more than a test," he says...

...Some parents are angry about a plan that is phasing out special centers for students with disabilities. As part of a national movement known as mainstreaming, they are instead being taught in regular classes. Bob Astrove, parent of a son with a learning disability, says his child flourished in the separate centers -- and just finished his junior year in college. "He needed the small, controlled environment," says Mr. Astrove, who claims the district is shutting down the centers in part to shift money to its green-zone initiatives.

Gifted students, say school officials, have plenty of challenges, through extra work in class. The district says it is now spending more on special education, not less, because students receive extra supports in regular classrooms. Administrators also say they get few complaints from parents of children who get double doses of academic subjects. The district tries, when possible, to preserve electives such as art and music classes using an extended-day program...

Read the full article here.