The Terra Linda High School football field recently had a safety test which led to the field being unready for competition. The field failed two safety tests two weeks ago due to the lack of padding and it doesn’t seems to be improving. The field was due for a turf renewal since the same rubber field has been there for 11 years. During the turf renewal, they found the many issues the field had. “It’s going to be expedited,” said Dave Pedroli the director of maintenance for San Rafael City Schools. “But we never have, and we’re not going to start, cutting corners.”

The engineering firm, Miller Pacific, is supposed to run tests on the old field in the near future. They are going to try and find all the fixable issues such as the slant of the field and percolation. After the engineering firm hopefully finds and fixes the fields problems, the soonest possible end date is March. The soccer teams will have to find somewhere else to practice in the winter, and lacrosse in the spring. The teams will most likely have to practice on the upper field until the field is officially done. As of games, the school district is looking to see if the upper practice field is competition ready. The competition readiness is dependent on whether the field is padded enough to absorb heavy impact. “Everyone likes to play on their home field, but, at the same time, everyone’s excited because they are getting a new field.” Principal Katy Dunlap says.  If the upper practice field is unusable, they will have to play away games only for the rest of the season.

The cost of the new field will cost anywhere from $600,000 to $1 million. The money will come from district funds and facility user fees. In 2015, San Rafael City Schools got $161 million from a bond that was only meant to pay for San Rafael High School’s new stadium and field. Principal Katy Dunlap said the money left over can’t be used because it was meant for only San Rafael’s new field and stadium. The money will stay there until the district finds out how much the new field and stadium will cost after it’s done.

The future field will have additional cushioning and double the padding as the current field does. The school still needs to get the money to fund the field, but once they do, the field will be advanced and competition ready. There will be much less maintenance of the new field and will cost much less money, because the new turf will be easily cleaned. The old turf would take hours the clean, so the new turf is the district’s favor.