he staff of The Ridgewood Blog
Ridgewood NJ, during Monday night’s Ridgewood, Board of Education meeting, the subject of surface temperatures on artificial turf playing fields came up, which led to a somewhat robust discussion.
Ridgewood Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Mark Schwarz said publicly that he believes a policy exists that bans play on artificial turf fields owned by the Board of Education when surface temperatures on one or both those fields rises above a certain point.
Unfortunately, Dr. Schwarz did not have the policy with him at the meeting, and was unable to recall what the maximum temperature is.
The staff of The Ridgewood Blog, along with other interested parties, anxiously awaits Dr. Schwarz to report back and let the public know what that maximum temperature is, what device is being used to take it, how often it is taken, who is taking it, and is the temperature recorded after it’s taken.
Thus far, we’ve just heard talk about this alleged policy. Let’s see the policy In writing and see how and if it works.
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Keith & Nan – No such policy in place for Maple Field?
https://www.njsiaa.org/sites/default/files/documents/2020-10/njsiaa-heat-participation-policy-080619.pdf
Policy actively used by RHS during summer sports
More like policy actively ignored by RHS and sports organizations during summer sports.
Radio silence from the sports gang
They will respond after they finish eating their gyros.
Years ago my daughter played a softball doubleheader for Ridgewood against Franklin Lakes. It was the hottest day of the year. FL’s turf was warm to the touch.
Normally I don’t need water but that day I drank 3 bottles.
I got him and into the air conditioned house and I remember thinking that playing those games that day was stupid and dangerous.
Your daughters a him now?
Every time I hear the sports dads commenting that turf will get their kids out onto the fields which is beneficial for their health and well being, I want to cry. We are learning so much now on the hazards and the heat is just one example of the dangers of turf and I honestly believe that natural grass is a safer, more eco-friendly in the long run and overall the healthier choice if maintained properly.
if you’ve been to your kid’s soccer game and wondered if artificial turf is safe for them to play, snack, and lie on? What about those small black rubber pieces of the infill that end up in every nook and cranny of your home, car, their underwear and socks? So not only are there toxic chemicals but also health concerns due to excessive heat.
I truly hope that Ridgewood leaders and our BOE leaders look at the facts and that our children are at risk of getting heat stroke, or worse, sick from the PFAS and plastic garbage that this product is. I am not sure what it will take to convince those naysayers who really believe that this is a miracle product and if one of their kids gets injured, passes out or worse, they will be singing a different tune.
The sports dads are legends in their own minds.
Many of us warned about all of this before the first synthetic turf field was installed in town. Over time all the warnings from then have only intensified and expanded.
Funny we don’t see you attending any meeting why not
First field put in for LAX and soccer
Regular grass has been around forever before the horrible plastic grass with its chemical buffet, arrived on the scene. Do we even know if Ridgewood sanitizes the turf fields? Hot chemicals on hot plastic, breathing in PFAS that our kids are inhaling. I imagine this is worse when turf is ultra heated, what hot chemicals are they also playing on and breathing in?
Grass is natural, interacts with the sun and behaves like an enormous solar panel taking in energy from sunlight though photosynthesis, capturing all of it and passing it along to insects, bacteria, and grazing animals that feed upon the natural grass. When you lay down artificial turf, none of this happens. It heats up and does not photosynthesize. I think by now, we all realize that artificial turf can become MUCH hotter than natural grass on warm and hot sunny days, so imagine when the weather forecasters talk about the heat domes we just experienced, where extreme heat is occuring. Turf can go up to close to 200 degrees and these kinds of temperatures can lead to potentially life-threatening heat-related illnesses not to mention fainting and possible heat stroke or burining their skin on the hot plastic?
What is this hippie liberal bullshit?
Public health measures within municipalities, schools and other institutions are essential and should be the major consideration over decisions made about the installation and maintenance of their athletic playing fields. There are many factors that are part of the decision from cost of installation, maintenance, # of days the field can be used, likelihood of player injuries, temperature of the playing environment, and athletes’ exposure to chemicals. The sports dads need to give up on the dream and hope that their fantastic looking green plastic is the only solution. I have to believe that sound decisions and creative solutions will be made by BOE (hopeful) and Ridgewood Parks & Rec (less hopeful based on Mayor and council influence over turf). When the weather is so hot kids should not be on turf. When cooling stations are open in our communities, why would we leet our kids be near turf let alone play a sports on it, breathing in and exposing themselves to a literal hotbed of danger.
I’m glad I grew up when I did. I remember XC practices running sprints in GR in boiling temperatures in August. I learned a lot about how to push through pain and how hard I could work if I put my mind to it. Drink water. Cool down afterwards. This whole idea that you have to coddle HS athletes is getting way out of hand.
Let’s just use grass with pesticides and fertilizer instead!
okay, Frank. The only Bee man that advocates for Turf over grass.
Former RHS athlete here. Every day at practice the trainer would use the wet bulb meter to determine heat index. If necessary, adjustments were made to practice in terms of workload and practice to comply with state requirements.
Another failed attempt at a gotcha moment by the anti turf crowd
What year was that-don’t think you mentioned that? Fields have not always been shut down and graduation is still held on sizzling plastic grass radiating heat up at anyone withint its grasp. Turf has been proven to be dangerously hot enough to cause serious health related concerns. Not all fields are closed during peak heat as we know from parents recounting stories of when the fields should have been shut down but were not. Turf has been proven to be toxic. We can look at the periodic chart of elements and I am sure you studied that at RHS, right? Wanna go through the list of chemicals or anything else related to turf, just let me know.
Wasn’t sure what a “Wet bulb meter” was. her eis the dictionary description: A Wet bulb measures the temperature read by a thermometer covered in a wet cloth. As water evaporates from the cloth, evaporation cools the thermometer. This mirrors how the human body cools itself with sweat. WTF. Alternatively, heat guns on Amazon for like $10 bucks.
Let me pull out my trusty old Wet Noodle Meter … beep beep booooooop … yeah, you’re a dope. “Coach, please pull out your little wet magic 8 bulb and wave over the turf, we wanna know if we can play in accordance with state requirements today.”
Sorry, not buying it…
The sports dads only care about the fact that the turf lets the kiddies get out throughout the year. Zero concern about heat islands, PFAS, probably because Mr. baseball league says it is safe. Pathetic.
Will they be installing HEAT MONITORS with Early Warning System and auto-dial like they do for Lightning?
I think it would be a good waste of money.
All your clueless neighbors would support it.
Keith Kazmark likes spending Ridgewood’s money. Done!
Will they be installing HEAT MONITORS with Early Warning System and auto-dial like they do for Lightning?
I think it would be a good waste of money.
All your feckless neighbors would support it.
Look as a community the bottom line is that the sports people, for the most part, don’t care whether turf is toxic. Sure their kids or children they coach play on it, but it is like if you don’t see it, it doesn’t exist. Meaning, that maybe no one they know has gotten sick. Doesn’t mean that the turf isn’t toxic and that appropriate measures should be taken by our community that is so kid centric. If you really care about the kids, you’d pick a healthier option. They don’t want to hear anyone yacking about toxic turf because they have major field envy and that plastic grass looks so nice.
So then they get what they deserve and universe does what it does best and balances itself out. No sense in even feeling bad for them.
“No one has gotten sick”: the major concerns are for cancer and other illnesses that would not show up for a long time.
If this plastic grass is so hazardous why was installed to begin with
You sound like that assole Muller. If turf was so bad why are companies still manufacturing it.
In part for the same reason asbestos was installed years ago before all the hazards were known. It will eventually come out due to liability.
Exactly