I have had the opportunity to speak with many people over the last few months about my candidacy for School Board. One question that invariably comes up is whether the School Board should approve (encourage or allow) turf at one of the schools, and in particular at Heather School. The staff and principal at Heather said that they wanted turf because they currently have to close the field to children for safety reasons. They play on the blacktop and not on the gopher-hole ridden bog that is the Heather playing field. The staff would rather tend to scrapes with Band-Aids than deal with twisted ankles from the gopher holes. I don’t disagree. Even if you disagree about the issue of turf (I would definitely prefer that children play on grass), turf is better than blacktop. Turf versus grass is an issue for which the outcome will not please everyone; but everyone needs to be an advocate for their position at this point because nothing is set in stone between the School Board and City Council. Joe Simitian said in his talk on Advocacy on the 22nd, that you need to be persistent and find and advocate willing to float questions or comments that support your position. I agree.