See email here: https://imgur.com/a/gA5Njqw
If you’ve been following the local turf wars at all, it has been, at best, confusing why SMMUSD – unlike other nearby districts like LAUSD and of course the City of Santa Monica itself – has been so gung ho on installing artificial turf on its campuses. Even if you buy the arguments about “field availability” for older students (I don’t, but let’s put that aside for the sake of argument…), District COO Carey Upton has been pushing turf even for our littlest kids, including 4 year olds (!). This is even though turf gets much hotter than real grass on warm days, and turf temps have regularly exceeded 130 degrees in just the past couple of months. Carey Upton has gone so far as to install turf at the new Ocean Park School House without Coastal Commission permits and is currently pushing turf for the new Roosevelt TK/K yard. Parents and other community members have been upset, not just at these decisions but in the way they’ve been treated in raising these issues.
What many parents and community members don’t know, however, is just how cozy Upton is with the artificial turf industry, and just how dismal our superintendent and the School Board have been in rooting out his inappropriate and unethical behavior. It honestly boggles this mind how they allow this stuff, but just to keep it relatively short, here’s a top 5. Tencate (a turf manufacturer) sure is right that Upton is a “fantastic champion,” but I think the community deserves to know who they’re dealing with…
1) Upton literally accepts gifts from the artificial turf industry: https://imgur.com/a/gi9VQKt.
I personally find it insane that the District doesn’t already prevent gifts from its vendors? If this were the City, this would be a straightforward violation of the Oaks Initiative, because I guess the City just has higher (better) ethical standards? Note that Upton’s never mentioned this at the dozens of meetings about the topic.
2) Upton speaks at Tencate-hosted conferences: https://imgur.com/a/a445nTW. Looks like he’s pretty excited about it 🙃: https://imgur.com/a/i8Unctr.
He then has Tencate reps speak before the School Board, without mentioning this to the public. Our superintendent (Dr. Antonio Shelton) shouldn’t be let off the hook either. He has also spoken at one of these conferences and has also failed to mention that to the public, despite knowing this is a contentious issue: https://imgur.com/a/VjAI7JP.
3) Upton has offered to lobby the City of LA on Tencate’s behalf and used his SMMUSD email address to lobby State Senator Ben Allen in defense of turf (luckily Ben is a champion on this issue!): https://imgur.com/a/Tyx5pW0. And: https://imgur.com/a/ftj5wlZ
Most recently, he went to Culver City’s Sustainability Commission to promote turf. I struggle to understand how this is an acceptable use of time for someone with (admittedly) so many job responsibilities?
4) Upton has zero problem being dishonest with the community – here, taking an, at best, disingenuous approach to zoning to avoid community input on turf: https://imgur.com/a/0aTbV2T
From the linked email to School Board member Laurie Lieberman: “Politically, it is better exempt the project now rather than needing to exempt the project on a specific new challenge. (An example, tonight the SM Sustainability Commission is discussing banning a synthetic turf. If they were to do this, the BOE would need to exempt the project to put in a synthetic turf field. Voting on this when it is a community issue would be more of a challenge.”
Bonus anger points: check out how Upton talks about street safety advocates! This is the guy designing “safe” pick up and drop off for our kids. Lovely.
5) Upton – along with Shelton, Laurie Lieberman, and Jon Kean – tried to push the PTA study in their own direction, attempting to exempt play yards for our littlest kids [Note that the PTA study refused to listen to them because they actually gaf…]. I highly recommend reading this email chain in full to get a sense of how manipulative these people are, how afraid they are of disagreement, and just a sense of how they operate in general. It’s unbecoming to say the least: https://imgur.com/a/luavPgU.
Gems in here include School Board Jon Kean accusing the study group, including an environmental sciences professor, of being “biased.” I’d love to understand what definition of “bias” would include the study’s authors, but not their COO who literally accepts gifts from the industry. I don’t think Jon will be explaining that one anytime soon though.
And really impeccable logic from Laurie – “I saw turf in Chicago, so it must be fine, even for little kids!” Seriously, this is the level of analysis and concern that Laurie Lieberman, running for a fifth term, brings to issues the community cares about.
TL;DR:
We so, so desperately need a more serious School Board who will be vigilant about these issues. Even if artificial turf is not your issue, Upton’s behavior is absolutely unethical and unacceptable. And, amazingly, this is the same guy they have overseeing the failing HVAC and the ~$1 billion in construction (which I’ve voted for!). A School Board that allows this behavior, and indeed enables it, is failing to perform its basic oversight role for the community.
Kicker email: https://imgur.com/a/qns2aEK. Maybe, Laurie, people blame Carey because they should? Maybe people blame Carey because the Board isn’t doing its job?