ARTIFICIAL TURF EYED FOR SCHOOL FIELDS BURROUGHS, BURBANK HIGHS ARE DISTRICT'S TOP PRIORITIES.Byline: Alex Dobuzinskis Staff Writer BURBANK - Burbank Unified officials are evaluating whether the grass may be greener on a new kind of artificial turf Artificial turf, or synthetic turf, is a grass-like man-made surface manufactured from synthetic materials. It is most often used in arenas for sports that were originally or are normally played on grass, however, it is now being used on residential lawns and commercial . Memorial Field, next to John Burroughs High School John Burroughs High School is a public high school located in Burbank, California. Emilio Urioste, Jr. is the current principal. The school was built in the 1920's, but wasn't established as a high school until 1948. The school was named after naturalist John Burroughs. , and the field at Burbank High School Burbank High School may refer to:
Installing artificial turf on the fields would cost about $1.2 million at each of the fields, including the installation of new tracks, he said. District officials hope to have an installation plan within months and have the funds to do it within two years, Kiafar said. ``It's difficult to maintain natural grass when you go from football to soccer, when you have pickup games on the weekends and after hours Adv. 1. after hours - not during regular hours; "he often worked after hours" ,'' school board member Connie Lackey said. ``If we went to artificial surface, we wouldn't have those same worries.'' The newer kind of artificial turf is softer than AstroTurf, which was introduced in the 1960s. Instead of having synthetic grass and foam padding Bits or characters that fill up unused portions of a data structure, such as a field, packet or frame. Typically, padding is done at the end of the structure to fill it up with data, with the padding usually consisting of 1 bits, blank characters or null characters. See null and bit stuffing. over asphalt, the latest generation of artificial turf has a mixture of sand and rubber underneath blades of synthetic grass. The district has not chosen the company that would supply the turf. Kiafar said that if artificial turf is installed at the two top-priority fields, the district could do the same for its middle schools. However, budget constraints A Budget Constraint represents the combinations of goods and services that a consumer can purchase given current prices and his income. Consumer theory uses the concepts of a budget constraint and a preference ordering to analyze consumer choices. on the school district are an obstacle to installing artificial turf at district fields. ``It's not in our current budget. But ... we are looking to be creative - look for partnerships, look for grants, look for ways to work with the city to begin making those improvements,'' Lackey said. The school board and the Burbank City Council held a joint meeting last week to discuss ways of cooperating financially, and improving the playing surface at Memorial Field was one of the subjects discussed. Given that district fields are used by the city as well, the city may be able to contribute money toward the installation of artificial turf, school officials said. Because of the amount of use it receives, the grass regularly gets worn down to dirt by November at a Burbank High School field used for football and soccer, said Helen Quayle, assistant principal of activities and athletics at the school. But some baseball enthusiasts believe artificial turf does not have as true a bounce as natural grass, she said. Bob O'Quinn of the Illinois-based Turf Resource Center, which receives funding from turf grass producers, said another problem with artificial turf is that it can get hotter than natural grass fields, creating a concern that players could suffer heat exhaustion heat exhaustion, condition caused by overexposure to sunlight or another heat source and resulting in dehydration and salt depletion, also known as heat prostration. The symptoms are severe headaches, weakness, dizziness, blurred vision, and sometimes unconsciousness. . O'Quinn also said his organization questions the longevity of the latest generation of artificial turf, since it has not been around long enough to prove the longevity of the material. Two years ago, St. Francis High School in La Canada Flintridge installed FieldTurf, a new type of artificial turf, on its field. The field can get about 10 degrees hotter than a natural grass field because the rubber used for the infill in·fill n. 1. The use of vacant land and property within a built-up area for further construction or development, especially as part of a neighborhood preservation or limited growth program. 2. gets warm, said Terry Terrazone, the school's athletic director Athletic director (commonly, "athletics director") is a position at many American colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, which oversees the work of the coaches and related staff involved in intercollegiate or interscholastic athletic . But the field can be hosed down to cool it, he said. ``We're extremely happy with it. It's maybe the best thing we've done for our field athletes ever since we've been in business,'' he said. The Glendale Unified School District The Glendale Unified School District is a school district based in Glendale, California, United States. The school district serves the city of Glendale, portions of the city of La Cañada and the unincorporated communities of Montrose and La Crescenta. is also examining the possibility of installing the newer type of artificial turf on its fields, officials said. Alex Dobuzinskis, (818) 546-3304 alex.dobuzinskis(at)dailynews.com |
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