It was as early as December 2012 when he learned there were shards of glass in the new softball field at Jefferson Village School, but AOS 93 Superintendent Steve Bailey said it was not until last week that he found out the baseball field was contaminated, too.
The new building has had a variety of issues both before and after it opened in the fall of 2011, including septic issues, a burst fire sprinkler pipe, and an issue with a backup generator that delayed the building’s first day of school.
At the Aug. 5 meeting of the Jefferson School Committee, Larry Stelzer, the president of the Jefferson Sports Association, said the fields are littered with glass shards – “some as big as your finger,” pieces of pottery, Bic lighters, nails, and large rocks.
The fields at the school pose both a safety and liability risk and are unfit for sports or activities of any kind, Stelzer said.
The Jefferson Sports Association is losing both kids and parents because the group’s teams have to travel for all their games instead of playing locally, and are losing thousands in concessions, Stelzer said.
This fall would have been the first time the new fields could have been used anyway, Bailey said, because the grass needed a year to grow and a second year to firm up before it was used.
Use of the JVS fields may have to wait still longer for the problems to be addressed, according to Principal Peter Gallace.
“We were planning to use the field this fall, but it doesn’t look good right now,” Gallace said.
If the fields end up being replaced, waiting for the fields to mature is “a hardship you shouldn’t have to endure for another two years,” Bailey said to the community members and parents at the meeting.
Several parents said they would have to pull their children from sports programs if the teams are traveling for all their games again this fall, citing the time involved and the cost of fuel.
“This is really outrageous that this is continuing like this,” committee member Ellie Day said of the issues with the fields. “We really need to press this person.”
Discussions have been on-going with George C. Hall & Sons, the Rockland company that put in the fields as a subcontractor during the construction of the new school, but plans to address the softball field’s issues were put on hold last week once it became known both fields were affected, Bailey said in an interview on Aug. 6.
The company has so far been responsive, as issues have been brought to their attention, Bailey said. Still, some money is being held back from the contractors until the project is deemed complete, he said.
At the committee meeting, Bailey said the issue of the fields would be discussed during a walk-through at the school scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 7 at 9 a.m. Along with representatives from the Department of Education, the building’s architect, and building contractor Bowman Constructors, reps from George C. Hall & Sons will attend if they can, Bailey said.
A call to George C. Hall & Sons for comment was not returned by press time.
