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Out with the old, in with the new

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Almost as soon as custodians removed the podium and chairs from Ramona High School graduation ceremonies, workers moved in to yank up the synthetic turf that has been the school field for 10 years.

FieldTurf USA started work on the $500,000 project last Thursday morning and expects to have the new turf on and ready for use by July 9.

Ramona Unified School District trustees approved money for this and other maintenance projects at their March meeting.

With an improved economy sending more money to education, the state said school districts no longer have the option of putting deferred maintenance money into the general fund for salaries, benefits and other uses. As a result, districts must designate 3 percent of their annual budget to deferred maintenance.

Since trustees approved $1.5 million for facility improvements through the 2016 fiscal year, some Ramona schools have seen bathroom renovations, parking lot resealing and striping, new blinds in classrooms, fencing and gate repairs. Maintenance crews and contracted workers did most of this work over the spring break.

Summer projects include the new turf; roofing over Ramona High School’s gymnasiums; carpet and tile at Barnett Elementary, Ramona High and the district meeting room; asphalt; middle school bathrooms; Ramona High science classrooms, gym floors, blinds and fencing.

Through donations and fundraisers, Friends of Ramona Unified Schools (FORUS) is purchasing three new drinking fountains that the district will install at Ramona Elementary and two heating and air conditioning units for the multipurpose room at Ramona Elementary.

“They’re the only school whose multipurpose room does not have air conditioning,” Assistant Superintendent David Ostermann told trustees at their meeting last Thursday.

A grant from Ramona Food and Clothes Closet will pay for new basketball set-ups and hoops at Ramona Elementary.

Maria Zabriskie, FORUS member and incoming Ramona Elementary PTA president, thanked the board and everyone else who made improvements at the school possible this year.

“We really appreciate all the work and all the lines of communication that we didn’t have before,” she said. “It’s a big difference. I’m proud to say that that’s my school and my kids go there.”

Montecito High School construction students contributed to improvements at several schools this year and will be helping with projects this summer, said Ostermann.

“One is at James Dukes (Elementary), gutting an old portable classroom and retrofitting it for offices so it’s functional again,” he said.

Ramona Unified Maintenance and Operations Supervisor Ed Anderson and Ramona High Athletic Director Damon Baldwin agree Bulldog stadium needs the new turf.

“It was time,” said Anderson. “We had some experts look at it and they all agreed.”

“The old field being taken out was as bad as it gets,” said Baldwin. “The field was basically rubber with no blades of grass left. It had become so hard that there was not much life left in it for us to allow kids to be on it.”

When synthetic turf gets too hard, “legally you can’t play on it,” said Anderson.

Some coaches from other districts had voiced concerns about the safety of the field, said Baldwin.

The advantage of synthetic turf is the field can be used 365 days a year, said Anderson. A grass field can’t be used when it rains, and there is down time for maintenance, he said.

Between watering and maintenance, the district would spend about $80,000 a year on a grass field, trustee Bob Stoody said at the March meeting.

Parent Kim Newcomer and trustee John Rajcic registered concerns about artificial turf.

Newcomer suggested getting quotes for a natural versus synthetic field. She also had health concerns.

“There’s supposed to be chemical disinfectants on it, there’s supposed to be cleanup of organic material as it accumulates,” she said. “...And injuries. What are the injuries for kids on the artificial turf versus natural grass?”

“I’m going to vote against synthetic turf,” said Rajcic. “I think you should look at some drought-resistant grass.”

“I like grass, but not for our public schools, where we need the consistency of programs,” said Dawn Perfect, board president.

Referring to her experience with a non-school league, “my responsibility was budgeting for maintenance of natural turf field, and it’s quite a lot of money, when you get to the aeration, the top soil, the seed, the fertilizer, the mowing. It’s a full-time job to maintain those fields, and that’s a staff person.”

Commenting about the condition of the old turf, Baldwin said, “the temperature on the field was about 10 degrees hotter than the actual temperature. This obviously was a struggle for kids and coaches at times.”

With new technology, the temperature on the field will be 30 to 35 degrees cooler in the summer, said Anderson.

“The new field will have ‘Cool Cork’ technology in it and allow the temperature to be actually lower,” agreed Baldwin. “The blades of grass will be longer and thicker and much softer.”

Baldwin calls the field the “biggest classroom” in the district. Six periods of physical education on school days, football, soccer, lacrosse, track and field, the band and the Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps are among groups that use the field, he said.

“The field is used constantly,” said Anderson.

“It is also the ‘window’ to Ramona High School as it sits on the corner of a very busy intersection,” said Baldwin.

“That’s probably our single most used facility in the district,” said Ostermann.

The project does not include the track, which Ostermann said will not need to be replaced for three to four years.

Once the new turf is in, Baldwin asks for the community’s support and cooperation in staying off it when the gates are locked.

“Much of the old turf was vandalized at times after hours, and many people in the past have ignored the signs stating no animals and/or strollers and bikes in our stadium,” he said.

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