A concerned parent has started a letter drive to encourage talk show host Ellen DeGeneres help fix issues with the sports fields at Jefferson Village School.
The fields are currently cordoned off from use by either students or community members because shards of glass were found on the infield of the softball field and glass, lighters, pottery shards, nails and other items have been found on the baseball/soccer field.
The fields were installed by subcontractor George C. Hall & Sons as part of the construction of the new Jefferson Village School.
Questions remain on whether the fields’ material, which George C. Hall & Sons reportedly said came from the school grounds in the first place, was already contaminated prior to being removed from the grounds, or were contaminated in some other way.
The extent of the fields’ contamination has also not yet been determined.
At their last meeting, the Jefferson School Committee opted to pursue a collaborative approach with Bowman Constructors, the general contractor for the new school projects, and George C. Hall & Sons, but Kristy Bryant is pursuing another avenue of resolution.
Bryant, a parent of JVS students, the baseball commissioner for Jefferson Sports Association, and the wife of Jefferson School Committee member Forrest Bryant, initiated the letter drive in hopes of Ellen DeGeneres fixing the fields more quickly and without litigation.
“I just thought of it and decided to put on Facebook with a private message … to 38 people, moms and grandmothers, mostly any women from Jefferson,” Bryant said in an interview Aug. 19. “[I] just asked them if they were interested in helping.”
DeGeneres often helps out people in need, and if enough people write in about the issues with the fields she might choose to help in Jefferson, Bryant said.
Bryant said she is certain that, however the fields were contaminated, it was accidental. The goal of the letter drive is to hopefully get results, not to step on the toes of those working to fix the issue, she said.
“I just thought we could do it this way and there would be no drama,” Bryant said. “She has the resources to come in next month and tear it up and put in a whole new field.”
Bryant has no official count of who has written to DeGeneres, but at least two people have confirmed they sent letters and a number of other people have either said they planned to, or have shown support, she said.
Anyone, from Jefferson or elsewhere, who is interested in having the fields fixed is encouraged to write in, Bryant said.
“I think the more letters that she got, the more she’d take notice,” she said.
Letters can be sent electronically at http://www.ellentv.com/be-on-the-show/474/.
Steve Bailey, the superintendent for AOS 93, said Aug. 20 that the first and most significant attempts to resolve the issues with the fields need to be through the proper channels.
“We have a procedure in place; we have people we have to work through, the Department of Education, the Bureau of General Services, the contractor, as well as the school committee,” Bailey said.
Steps are being made using those channels, according to Bailey: a safety inspection of the softball field is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Friday, Aug 23 to determine whether the field is safe for use.
“There will be significant soil analysis as well as a visual inspection,” Bailey said.
The field has been mowed close to the surface for the visual inspection as well a metal detection, he said.
Analysis will be performed on the soil at a variety of sites on the field to determine whether extraneous items such as glass, pottery, metals, or other items are present, he said.
“If it’s determined that [those items are not present], we’re hoping that potentially that field could be accepted and determined safe for play,” Bailey said.
