Under Pressure, Schools To Reconsider Plans For New Athletic Fields

After hearing from concerned community members at several School Committee meetings and a designated public workshop, Nantucket Public Schools (NPS) Superintendent Elizabeth Hallett announced Tuesday that NPS will be revisiting its controversial plan to install a natural grass playing field and asphalt track in place of the current grass football field.

The public school district has engaged with consulting firm Weston and Sampson to create a report on the environmental and health impacts of different athletic facilities materials for Nantucket, which will be presented at one of the School Committee’s two December meetings to help guide its decision-making as its members determine whether to support the original plan or an alternative pushed by many in the community that would see the installation of an artificial turf playing field and a synthetic track.

Advocates of artificial turf fields have argued that they allow for greater use without a noticeable decrease in field quality, are more common in the region, and would protect the health of student athletes.

“The kids are embarrassed, and other teams don't want to play here,” Graham Veysey, a parent who has been one of the most outspoken advocates of a turf field, said on Tuesday. “Turf is a sustainable option for Nantucket.”

Hallett also said that NPS is working to schedule a forum for students to express their opinions on the issue. Several students have spoken in favor of a turf field, both at past meetings and on Tuesday.

“The majority of students desperately want the turf fields, and the small minority just isn't involved in the athletic part of the school enough to have an opinion,” said Danielle Lewis, the student representative to the School Committee.

Soccer goalie Madden Meyers told the School Committee that she and her friends had collected over 300 student signatures on a petition advocating for a turf field.

“Not a single student I asked refused to sign,” she said.

What material to use in the school’s proposed athletic complex renovations has been a nagging issue for the School Committee for years now. In 2022, NPS floated a $17.5 million proposal to install two artificial turf fields as part of a larger campus-wide facilities improvement project, but backed down after facing intense opposition from local groups concerned about the impacts of the so-called “forever chemicals” known as PFAS, which have been tied to cancer and other health problems and are often found in turf fields.

Some of that opposition has resurfaced in recent weeks, including at a public information session on PFAS held at the same time as Tuesday’s School Committee meeting and attended by multiple NPS administrators and School Committee member Tim Lepore. PFAS expert Dr. Laurel Schaider, a senior scientist at the Silent Spring Institute, stated her opposition to a turf field in response to a question at the public information session.

“I would see it as sort of a non-essential use,” Schaider said. “There are other chemical concerns as well. It is also just a really large amount of plastic, and we're trying, I hope people are trying, to use less plastic. It's not recyclable. It just feels pretty unsustainable.”

But the large majority of the community members who have attended the School Committee’s recent meetings have pushed for a turf field and a synthetic track.

The plan also includes a wide variety of other renovations, including a new grandstand, press box, team room building, booster building, bathrooms, improved ADA compliance, and dark-sky-compliant lighting. None of these amenities have generated significant controversy.

Hallett has repeatedly emphasized the importance of bringing a plan to Town Meeting this spring, where it will need approval from voters before work can begin. She said Tuesday that the school is not yet under serious time pressure to make sure that happens.

“We're two months ahead of where we were [in 2022],” Hallett said. “We're ahead of schedule.”