The contractor that installed the sports fields at the new Jefferson Village School said the topsoil used in the fields originally came from the school property, according to AOS 93 Superintendent Steve Bailey.
The fields have been a safety concern after it became known last December there were shards of glass on softball field. More recently, it was found the baseball field was contaminated with pieces of glass, pottery, and others items.
Bailey said Bill Reinhardt, the vice president of operations for George C. Hall & Sons of Rockland, was present during a walk-through of the school on Aug. 7 and reported that his company had removed the topsoil used to build the fields from the JVS site before beginning groundwork.
“From his perspective, they used material that was there,” Bailey said on Aug. 8. “They did the screening that was called for, to [specification], and brought that material back.”
A call to Reinhardt for comment was not immediately returned.
Possibilities of how to handle the fields will be discussed with a representative from the Jefferson Sports Association on Monday, Aug. 12, prior to a special meeting of the Jefferson School Committee scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 13 at 6 p.m. at JVS, Bailey said.
One item on the agenda for the committee meeting is whether to approve use of the fields contingent on safety inspections.
The inspections would involve a visual inspection of whether the fields are safe to be used by school faculty, administration, and coaches, Bailey said.
“We would continue those on a regular basis until we know it is safe,” he said.
Safe, however, is a relative term given the expanse of the fields, Bailey said.
“There are many, many, I mean thousands of square feet that you walk on and you don’t see anything,” Bailey said.
Whether or not the fields will be available for use during the coming school year is to be determined, he said.
Concerns about the quality of the fields’ grass were also discussed at both the committee’s recent meeting and during the Aug. 7 walk-through, and Reinhardt has been working on those issues, Bailey said.
The baseball field was the last of the fields to be seeded, in October 2011, and received a lot of hard rain both before and after it was seeded, which affected its opportunity for robust growth, Bailey said.
George C. Hall & Sons reseeded twice and fertilized twice, Bailey said. “[Reinhardt] really feels like he’s upheld and gone beyond what was required in the specifications and in the contract,” he said.
Reinhardt is “very willing and expressed desire to be helpful in providing labor for improving the infield on both fields,” Bailey said.
One option the school committee will consider at their Aug. 13 meeting will be whether to authorize Bailey or another designee to engage turf maintenance company Sports Fields, of Monmouth, for quotes and conversations on continued improvement and maintenance of the fields.
Bailey said he has received some quotes from Sports Fields, but other companies are being considered as well.
The Jefferson School Committee will next meet on Tuesday, Aug. 13 at 6 p.m. at the Jefferson Village School.
