Board of Education and County Council Put Massive Sheet of Plastic over Field at New High School. #heatisland #plastic

Concerned about global warming?  That's not a concern here in Montgomery County, Maryland. 

The Montgomery County Board of Education and the Montgomery County Council have finalized their plan to put down a massive sheet of plastic on the playing field at the new high school under construction on Old Georgetown Road. The Board of Education and the Montgomery County Council have made a choice to cover the ground with plastic and create a heat island.  

You can see the size of the giant sheet of plastic in this image from the Mandatory Referral documents filed with the Montgomery County Planning Board. 

The big purple oval shown in the image below is the massive sheet of plastic that will be installed at the Woodward High School construction site. 

The green areas on this image are the parts of the site that will be grass and dirt. 

NIH: New coronavirus stable for hours on surfaces

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/new-coronavirus-stable-hours-surfaces

Somerset ES Parents and Mayor Demanded Kids Play on 126 Degree Plastic Surface, and They Got Their Wish @Marc_Elrich

The Somerset Elementary School parents and community (even the Mayor) insisted that the children in their community should play on a very hot, plastic surface at their elementary school.  The parents and Mayor raised money for the plastic field and the Board of Education awarded a no bid artificial turf deal (they threw out the actual bids) to FieldTurf.

The Montgomery County Council supported the installation of the field that would slowly bake the children.

The field went in.

Now we see that the plastic is heating up just as predicted.  On a school day in October, the Somerset ES plastic playground registered 126 degrees. 


Below is the field test report from October 9, 2018.

Somerset Elementary School ... by on Scribd

Somerset Elementary School ... by on Scribd

There it goes! But where is it going? Dump? Incinerator? Another High School?

This is a picture of some of the used artificial turf from the Richard Montgomery High School field being hauled away.

But where is all this plastic going?  The Board of Education has not discussed this or made a plan for how to dispose of an entire football field of plastic. 

If you see the driver of this 18 wheeler, ask them where they are headed.

Today's Letter is Brought to you by "P" as in Pushing Plastic Playingfield

Remember Dustin Hoffman in "The Graduate?"

Given that our school system is so academically focused on its achievements, I am amazed that officials are pushing plastic playing fields on our kids and communities.

All the good news in the press about plastic grass seems to discount most, if not all, of the science behind the safety of these fields. Now its not just the alarmist parents who are weighing in - notable experts such as Dr. Philip Landrigan of Mt. Sinai Medical School, one of the well respected epidemiologists in the country, is on record as saying the toxic exposure levels for lead, a neurotoxin, and butadiene, a known human carcinogen, are serious environmental hazards. And lets not forget about MRSA and the extreme heat effects - that was last year's main issue.

Our officials in Montgomery County know better than the docs at Mt. Sinai. Look at the wonderful pilot at Richard Montgomery - with absolutely no data and the field just opening up to community users this month, Montgomery County can attest to the safety and durability of these fields. Walter Johnson and other schools can't wait to get their own plastic playgrounds. Thanks folks for being smarter than everyone else in the country and exposing our kids to a potentially precarious playing field. That's sure to level the achievement of all county students.