WASHINGTON (WUSA9) -- Parents have major issues with new synthetic turf fields at some DC schools.
One community coalition claimed the fields are falling apart and they have the video to prove it.
“The field has become completely unattached from its base,” audio from one video said.
Parents were concerned about, what they called, hazardous conditions.
Videos showed the synthetic turf field at Janney Elementary with the subsurface showing coming loose in some places.
The field at Oyster-Adams Bilingual School was also caught on video bubbling up and filled with water.
“These fields can be dangerous,” Amanda Farber, who is a community advocate and parent, said.
This is just one of the latest concerns some parents have about DC’s synthetic fields.
Last year, WUSA9 reported 16 synthetic turf fields failed safety tests.
The fields were shut down or restricted because of potential dangers.
Four of those fields were replaced including the lots at Oyster-Adams and Janney.
“Now that we know one year later at Janney and Oyster — and we don’t know how many other schools in the area — that there are problems already,” Farber explained.
The Safe Healthy Playing Fields Coalition documented the needed repairs at Janney Elementary last week and emailed the city about it last Tuesday.
The group emailed the city yesterday about the problem at Oyster-Adams and claimed the city had not responded to their emails.
WUSA9 obtained a picture showing a worker patching up a gap between the field and the concrete at Janney Elementary, but parents said that is not enough.
“We need to see the professional evaluations of these fields and frankly of all the fields,” Farber told WUSA9.
Director Greer Johnson Gillis with the Department of General Service sent the following statement:
“DGS is committed to the safety and proper maintenance of all District facilities including our synthetic fields. The agency received concerns about synthetic fields at Oyster-Adams Bilingual School and Janney Elementary School and has completed the necessary repairs to the Janney field, which is open. While the review of the Oyster-Adams field is still underway, the field remains in operation. The public is invited to review final recommendations compiled by the Interagency Working Group on Artificial Turf and Playgrounds here.”
DGS promised recommendations from the working group would be made public by Spring 2018, but the release of the information was delayed.
On Wednesday, a DGS spokesperson sent WUSA9 a link where the “public is invited to review final recommendations compiled by the Interagency Working Group.”
However, the webpage only shows a summary of the group, what tasks have been completed, and the groups’ next steps.
