Parents and community members in the New Paltz Central School District (NPCSD) are urging district officials to not only focus on upgrading athletic facilities in their next capital improvement project, but to also avoid using synthetic turf on its fields.
Nearly 100 district parents and local residents submitted a letter on Thursday, December 14 to district officials touting the findings in a recent buildings condition survey which identified needs across the district, including its athletic facilities, but said the recommendation that synthetic turf be used at the high school was “hazardous, controversial and financially imprudent, and should be dropped.”
Though manufacturers tout “synturf’s” attractive appearance and durability in inclement weather, its detractors say that due to the extended maintenance costs, the recommended allocation of $2.92 million for its installation is not reflective of the actual price tag. The letter cites a study by the Cornell College of Agriculture which claimed that a two-acre natural field requires 250 hours of maintenance per year at a cost of $4,000, compared to a cost of $6,000 over 350 hours in the same period of time for synturf.
“Even with excellent maintenance, most deteriorate quickly and need to be replaced after an average of eight years,” reads the letter. “In New Paltz, this will require another $3 million allocation before the current first graders reach high school, plus the high cost of disposing of the old field through UCCRA.”
There are also numerous health issues relating to synthetic turf, claims the letter, including the possibility of “turf burn,” which can serve as a gateway to microbial pathogens which can live on plastic grass for extended periods of time. Synturf fields can also become anywhere from 40-to-70 degrees hotter than the surrounding air.
“At a Connecticut school in 2015, several football players received blistering burns from the plastic field,” reads the letter. “More recently, synturf at a Texas high school became hot enough to melt shoes.”
There are also concerns about exposure to the toxic materials often used in the manufacturing of synthetic turf.
The letter was signed by numerous district parents and residents, as well as town supervisor Neil Bettez, village deputy mayor Alexandria Wojcik and parent Megan Wolff, who has a background in health policy and a doctorate in public health with a specialty in the health impact of plastics.
“(Synturf is) essentially plastic carpet,” Wolff said during a meeting of the board of education held on Wednesday, December 20. “It’s a petrochemical material and as such, it’s made with numerous heavy metals and chemical additives which leech constantly. These include lead and neurotoxin as well as cadmium, benzene and other chemicals which children and adolescents are especially vulnerable. Many are carcinogen associated with leukemia, lymphoma and glioblastoma, a brain cancer that has been popping up in baseball players and soccer goalies at unusual rates. Kids who play on the fields often refer to the rubber turds that they find themselves covered with, which is the tire crumb infill.”
Other parents — and some student athletes — spoke about the district’s perceived athletic facility shortcomings, with some hoping a swimming pool might be included in future plans, and others, like Matt DiDonna asking for a comprehensive athletics overhaul, with the possibility of offsetting some costs with sponsorship funding.
“What awaits the athletes at our schools are dilapidated fields, broken bleachers, broken signs and other deficiencies,” said DiDonna, a lacrosse coach and member of the Town of New Paltz Planning Board. “New Paltz’s reputation is that we do not take athletics seriously and our competitors know this.”
Trustee Glenn LaPolt indirectly addressed some of the questions raised by parents during a summary of a recent meeting of the facilities committee, including the revelation that a recent estimate for the installation of a swimming pool came in at $23 million. He added that the committee is looking into less expensive options for a swimming pool, as well as finding potential savings in other areas, like reducing the number of lanes in a new track from a suggested eight to six. He added that there were no decisions made about what might be in a future capital plan, athletic-oriented or otherwise, and said that their next meeting scheduled for Wednesday, January 10 would likely include reviewing architectural proposals.
“I think there was some consensus amongst the facilities committee about some things, but I think at this point they were looking for a direction from the (school) board before they invest a ton of time into putting together some sort of proposal,” LaPolt said.
During the December 20 school board meeting, superintendent Stephen Gratto suggested that the school board’s measured, deliberate approach to formulating a capital plan made sense. He added that discussions on social media about where the community wanted to see a future project go may have given the impression they were further along in the process than they actually are.
“We really want to take our time and do this right,” Gratto said. “But now the Board is in a position where I think they feel that they want to be involved in conversation because they don’t want people to think they aren’t involved in the conversation.”
Gratto added that the three most pressing facilities issues facing the district were upgrades to fire alarms, elevators and the roof at Lenape Elementary School.
Trustees discussed the potential taxpayer impact of a facilities project, with some expressing concerns about the district’s declining enrollment and whether that might lead to the elimination of some sports offerings or the closure of a school.
The NPCSD saw a modest decline in enrollment between 2000-01 and 2010-11 from 2,391 to 2,245. But the drop accelerated over the next decade, falling to 1,773 last year, and 1,750 in 2023-24.
Trustee Heather Kort said she was a sports fan, but said the district should consider what the future of athletics might look like if the population continues to decline.
“We’re literally slated to halve our population if it continues,” Kort said. “I am really wondering, do we need all of this for half the population? Which sports will even have enough members to run?”
LaPolt said that like SUNY New Paltz, the NPCSD’s sports facilities aren’t just about school sports.
“I think it’s important that we don’t link the size of our school with our fields,” he said. “To me, it doesn’t matter. It’s not just for the kids, it’s for the community. For example, if you go to SUNY New Paltz, you’ll see dozens of people and multiple tennis leagues playing…almost every night until SUNY locks the gates.”
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