For 32 years I have been and remain a strong supporter of Katy ISD and believe ours is an above average school district, never-the-less I find it troubling when issues of this financial magnitude are brought before the Board and approved on their very first reading without the opportunity for public comment as was the case at this month’s school board work study meeting. The Board is charged with “oversight” and is to act in the best interests of the community. I realize this has no impact on the worthiness of the decision, but it does reveal opportunities the Board has for more community inclusion prior to taking action on multi-million dollar non bond approved projects.

I happen to think taxpayers have a legitimate expectation their voice will be heard prior to Board action on projects of this financial scope. I also believe the public has the right to express concerns about non financial issues relative to any large project as money is not the only concern. Only after giving the public the opportunity to question and comment should the board move forward and take action.

Of course the Board cannot and should not slow down the process for every incident which could conceivable come before it, but I believe any reasonable person will agree in this case there is more than ample reason to do so.

I believe there are issues besides money we should address, but let’s start with the money as there is little doubt how the numbers work. I requested a third party review of the financial data of what is on the public record including statements by KISD officials and what was presented to the Board in public at the work study meeting. I asked an accomplished third party data management person to review the numbers and the results are posted in detail below for your review.

The short answer is a resounding “No!” artificial turf cost more, a lot more!

You don’t need a spread sheet to know if the current cost to water, mow and otherwise maintain all our competition playing fields is $90,000/year (KISD provided number) vs. an upfront cash outlay of $5.3 million plus interest the numbers will never favor replacement of grass with artificial turf when you add in turf replacement every 8 -10 years.

After hearing of this project parents have expressed concerns other than money. Safety is always on their mind. We have all heard players are more prone to injury and cuts on artificial turf vs. natural grass, and there have been product improvements. A safety issue brought to my attention just this week was voiced by one father whose company makes much of the material used in artificial turf who shared some interesting non financial numbers with me. It has to do with heat load

Stand on an artificial field in the afternoon and the heat will astound you. Grass dissipates heat and has a cooling effect which is one of the many reasons we like it for our lawns, parks, golf courses, playing surfaces, etc. Artificial turf acts as a heat sink and does an outstanding job of retaining heat.

On a sunny day the temperature can be 15 degrees or higher on the artificial turf than on a grassy area only a few feet away. Most of our players and coaches only have experience with the artificial turf at Rhodes where games are held in the evening. The campus competition fields we are replacing are uncovered and used in the heat of the day both during school and immediately afterwards. The conditions on these surfaces will be nothing like that at Rhodes on a Friday evening.

Touch the artificial (vinyl) top of a car on a sunny day and then reach down and touch some grass. Then think about a player suited up and running on an artificial (plastic) field. This is why coaches work extra hard to keep students hydrated on an artificial playing surface. Every year we tragically hear of student deaths due to heat exhaustion. I have never heard of a single death due to grass stains. As far as I know there was no discussion of this when the proposal was produced and passed.

We need more time to digest this purchase and if that means we play on grass next year so be it. Playing one more year on God’s natural grass won’t hurt anything. I don’t know if we can say the same about the alternative. Don’t you think we deserve to know more before we commit to this multi-million dollar project?

Click Here to Read My Speech to the Board

Click Here to Read Katy ISDs Communication on this issue, which is also the source of the district provided numbers used below.