The turf is green - but 3.7 million dollars of green?

Seriously, a school district can afford $3.7 million for artificial football turf? School district 230 strikes again. They have approved this spending for it's three high schools. Andrew, Stagg, and Sandburg High School will all be getting new synthetic turfs. Again, an educational institution spending a heck of a lot of money on non-educational things.

The purpose of the turf is to replace the grass which requires a lot of maintenance. I understand the idea of saving on maintenance, but how long will it take to recover the $3.7 million that is needed upfront? The downfalls of keeping the grass is that it can get muddy can cause rescheduling of football games. Is this the end of the world? Probably not. The schools have had grass and maintained it up until this point, but now, when our economic situation is in ruins, the school can budget $3.7 million. I just don't understand.

School board member's have a weak defense. They state that the field can be used for other things, like graduations, etc. . . Have they seen the sizes of the graduating classes from their schools? I would love to see all of Sandburg's seniors on the football field with their families in the stands. It's not a likely scenario. This is why they graduate out of larger places such as the Midwest Amplitheater or Rialto Theater. They also claim they will rent the turf out to the community and it will create revenue. Like everything. turf will eventually have wear and tear. .. . who will be responsible? The schools. That's what you get for renting out space. . you are the keeper and the landlord. Therefore, you are the responsible party. I can't say I agree with this approved spending.

I've heard students complaining about this as well. They want air-conditioning for their gyms. This somehow seems more reasonable. I can tell you from experience, that packing all of Andrew High School into the gym on the first day of school with no air is unpleasant. Not only the gyms, but some of the classrooms at Andrew and Stagg have serious heating and cooling problems. Wouldn't it make more sense to correct some of these issues before throwing out the green for turf?