The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District is moving ahead with a natural grass field pilot at Franklin Elementary School and signaled support for a moratorium on new synthetic turf play fields at its elementary campuses, following a school board discussion June 18.
The pilot will cost close to an additional $500,000 beyond the temporary field the district had already planned to install, Chief Operations Officer Carey Upton told the Board of Education. Most of that increase covers removing compacted soil and building a new subsurface drainage system, Upton said, with roughly $60,000 to $65,000 going to maintenance handled by the project contractor rather than the district's grounds crew. Separately, the staff report estimated ongoing annual maintenance for the grass field at $6,000 to $13,000 a year.
The temporary field will replace an existing grass field and an adjacent parking lot at Franklin, where demolition began June 12, while the district constructs a new Early Learning classroom building. Community members had recommended using the temporary field to test best practices for grass turf and gather data to guide future decisions.
No formal vote was taken. Superintendent Antonio Shelton, who opened the presentation, said the item returned to a subject the board first raised May 19, when it directed staff to pursue three matters: the Franklin pilot, coordination with the City of Santa Monica and Santa Monica College on additional field space, and a study comparing how different field surfaces perform over a year.
"No action is required tonight," Shelton said, adding that staff sought board direction to proceed.
To strengthen the project, the district engaged James H. Baird, a professor and turfgrass specialist at the University of California, Riverside, who conducted a site visit May 26 and joined the meeting remotely.
Baird identified the rootzone mix and internal drainage as the project's most critical and most neglected elements. "Lack of proper rootzone mix is probably the number 1 reason why intended fields like this fail," he wrote in a memorandum to the district. He recommended a sand-and-peat athletic field mix at least 6 to 8 inches deep and a subsurface drainage system along the field's southeast end, noting the site's roughly 3% slope was otherwise adequate.
Baird also recommended bermudagrass overseeded with perennial ryegrass, citing the coastal climate's limited bermudagrass growing season, and advised against relying solely on organic fertilizer. In his memo, he called the prospect of sustaining the field without synthetic pesticides or fertilizer "a recipe for failure."
That guidance prompted extended discussion, as some residents have urged all-organic management. Baird told the board that organic fertilizer releases nutrients based on temperature and would do little during the cooler months when a heavily used field most needs to recover. He suggested a possible hybrid approach but stressed the field would need adequate nutrition to regenerate.
Board member Jon Kean said he would not let the search for consensus stall the project. "I can't go by fields, I need to go by data," he said, adding that the district had become the field provider for a city that "has had decades to create more fields" and had not.
Sod installation is targeted for late July, during the optimal warm-weather window, with light supervised use expected by early September and full use by mid-September. Upton emphasized there would be no automatic opening; the field manager will confirm rooting depth and turf density before play begins.
Sustaining the roughly 22,500-square-foot field will require rest, including at least one day a week, plus a one-to-two-week closure after each semiannual aeration and reseeding cycle, in November after fall after-school sports and during spring break in April. Board members questioned how the district would limit use, particularly on weekends when outside leagues use school fields. "Who's going to take responsibility for that?" asked Maria Leon-Vazquez, who urged the board to focus first on Franklin.
Several members voiced support for the proposed moratorium on new synthetic turf play fields at elementary sites. The measure would not affect existing turf fields or surfaces required for fall protection under play structures.
Staff also outlined a 2026-27 study comparing five fields — Franklin, plus existing grass fields at McKinley, Roosevelt and Grant, and the synthetic turf field at Will Rogers — tracking hours of use, maintenance costs, injuries, surface temperatures and a field condition score. The data is intended to guide policy across all 16 district sites.
Upton said staff would return July 16 to ratify the pilot's added cost.