Field Turf is the standard and is 'no longer a luxury'

Last month’s “mud bowl” between the Monroe-Woodbury and NFA football teams should have been a huge advertising vehicle for the M-W school district. Instead, this three hour “infomercial” on MSG Varsity (which does a great job promoting schools), along with the subsequent and prominent back page photo in the Times-Herald Record, could instead have damaged the district’s reputation and by extension, property values in an already weak market. For all the state-of-the-art hardware and facilities, along with the superb staff that Monroe-Woodbury has, the school district suffered a black eye from this. It would not have happened if a Field Turf facility was installed. Like it or not, Field Turf, or one of its variants, has become the standard for school districts the calibre of M-W. It is no longer a luxury. People deciding on where to buy a house for their (young) families may well compare this high-profile item with similar districts and it could affect their buying decision. After all, this turf classroom would be used for boys and girls soccer, lacrosse, field hockey and multiple community events, let alone football. More people would use this field than virtually any other facility on the campus. If you still feel that this mud field is state of the art (and, yes, I played on my share 30-40 years ago, though not nearly as bad as this), then by extension, let’s remove every computing device from the school and go back to using slide rules and film strip projectors. Most important is the health of the many students who use the field. As we all know, the geese love this former swamp and leave their sculptures all over. Students run a risk of contracting Listeria, E coli and Campylobactor. How many parents had to clean or discard geese infected clothing? As it were, let’s be thankful no one got severely hurt during the mud bowl, then subsequently sued the district. A Field Turf classroom would serve as a prominent neon sign and sales vehicle for the high school, district and likely help property values, especially considering its location in a very high traffic area near Woodbury Commons Blvd. Instead, we’ll have to do our best, for the time being, with an outgrown, outdated and potentially dangerous facility. Bob Galerstein Monroe