The Story
Remember the whole football field turf problem? It hasn’t gone away.
How did this even happen?
Way way back in February, the school board proposed a budget to redo the turf at the high school. The supposed cost would have been around $500,000 for the school. Unfortunately, the voters didn’t approve the budget. The school board had to cut many expenditures, including returfing. But that doesn’t mean your enthusiastic sports friend can’t be mad about it!
Wait…who’s mad about this?
The athletes, and of course, the parents of those athletes. We’re looking at you, mom’s Facebook group. According to the players, since the turf is old, the fake “grass” is worn down. The main component of the turf now is just the black rubber pellets. This has led to a few major complaints. The biggest one? The pellets get into shoes, socks, and other clothing items! It’s madness. The pellets also heat up the field quickly, making it even more uncomfortable to play on in May, June, August and September.
Any other complaints?
Many players think the turf doesn’t have enough traction, even with cleats. This leads to more falls and decreased playing abilities, which could possibly lead to more injuries. While no injuries have been directly attributed to the turf, the concern is real for the players, and one of the reasons they have been so upset about it not being replaced. The idea of the replacement being funded by donations has also been floated around by athletes. But…$500,000? That’s a lot of coupon books. The school board also wants new turf, and plans to propose it again next spring.
What about inspection?
The school board left $25,000 in the budget for turf maintenance. It already gets inspected seasonally, and it actually passed for the fall. Surprise! And it hasn’t even gotten to the point of game-use only yet. So we’re doing…good?
The Runaway
We’ll see if the turf passes inspection in the spring, and what new proposals come up. But for now, we gotta love those black rubber pellets.
What to say…
When you make a small mistake, like forgetting to do homework or killing a hive…
My Bee. Have you ever noticed those bees hanging in the science room, or invading into the Spanish classroom right above it? (We swear it happens.) The bees belong to Save the Bees club, who has no explanation as to why last year’s hive died…Yes, the club did not “save the bees” last year. But it is common for bee hives to perish in New Hampshire winters and, once the queen bee dies, the worker bees die as well. This year Save the Bees has another hive, and we’re happy to report that every bee is doing well. But what exactly does Save the Bees do? What is the buzz all about? At their meetings, they brainstorm ideas to raise awareness for the dying bee population. (And no, killing the hive was not a part of this plan.) Last year, they held a movie night in the library where they showed (yup) The Bee Movie, which they plan on doing again this year. They actually don’t do much with the bees because they are basically self sustaining. It’s unknown how the club was able to get another beehive considering the unfortunate outcome of last year’s hive. No, like we really mean no one knows — not even Save the Bees. Basically, one hive died and another just showed up. How can we bee trusted with these bees again?
When you were getting ready to hop on the football wagon again…
Ooooh, spoke too early. Our football team’s hopes and dreams of being undefeated were crushed on Friday night when Londonderry crushed them in the game. The score was 35-0. Yep, you read that right. 35. To ZERO. And we technically hadn’t lost the last 17 games before Londonderry. And on top of that, this is the third time we’ve ever lost on our home field since moving up to DI in 2013. It’s been a good year for the Lancers (what even is a lancer?). They beat Pinkerton, their long-time rival, 42-24 for the first time in the last 18 games they’ve faced each other. Londonderry and Bedford were seeded one and two, respectively, going into the game. Coach Matthews said Londonderry just played harder and were more into it than us. Now, Bedford is third overall with Nashua North, who is still undefeated, in second. However, Bedford is still in first for the North division. We play at Salem on Saturday, allegedly in an effort to avoid EEE, that mosquito disease. And no, we’re not kidding. EEE is no joking matter.
When you feel like the fall season is dragging on…
Is anyone close to finishing? Crew had state championships this past Sunday. The girls finished in second, and the boys finished in third. Not only have we added crew to our list of sports, but they’re now on our list good sports. And golf has its championship this week.
Things to Know
Well this is awkward…
We may have fibbed a little bit last issue. The school board is meeting tonight. They will talk about girls lacrosse helmets. In our defense though, they TOTALLY broke their own meeting schedule.
An opportunity to fish for compliments
The parent-teacher conferences continue. Mr. Jozokos is encouraging students to go to their conferences this year.