Proponents of natural turf at Montgomery County high schools have met with little success, and Tuesday will likely see one more victory for fake fields.
Bethesda’s Walter Johnson High is expected to receive funding for its $1.2 million artificial turf plan at a County Council meeting on Tuesday, according to council members.
“The expectation is that artificial turf would be part of the new fields at high schools that are up for modernization in coming years,” Council President Phil Andrews said.
Following Walter Johnson, Burtonsville’s Paint Branch High, Gaithersburg High and Germantown’s Seneca Valley High are next in line for renovations.
Rockville’s Richard Montgomery High School teams played on artificial turf for the first time during the 2008-2009 school year, and officials heard few complaints.
Before its use, opponents of the plan criticized the school system’s partnership with a local semiprofessional soccer league, Maryland Soccer Enterprises. The league put up money for the facilities in exchange for priority practice time during its season.
“There haven’t been problems — I think I would’ve heard about it,” said Chris Cram, spokesman for the school system. “It’s heavily used, but it’s all about organization and good management of the facility.”
Walter Johnson’s plan uses a similar funding plan with the Bethesda Soccer Club. In exchange for practice time, the club will pay $335,000 toward the cost of construction, along with $16,750 each of the next four years.
The school system will provide the remainder of the cost, to be paid over six years, with modernization funds and lease financing.
Some parents accuse the schools and the council of disregarding evidence that the fields make injuries more likely, and are substantially warmer on their surfaces than natural turf, contributing to the likelihood of heat stroke.
The County Council’s education committee recommended the funds “with the understanding that the council will conduct further review of environmental and health safety monitoring options.”
Andrews, who sits on the committee, said the benefits outweigh the potential costs.
“On balance the arguments [for artificial turf] are persuasive,” he said. “You can get a lot more use out of it than a grass field and it stands up better to weather conditions.”
