Kennett High School’s Legacy Fields are getting new artificial turf.

The board accepted the bid for $1.97 million from Land Tek Group for a project to replace the 14-year-old ground cover as well as for several other additions.

Kennett Consolidated School District Director of Facilities George Wolhafe announced that there were three bids at the Dec. 5 board meeting, of which Land Tek Group was the lowest bid.

Also included in the project to replace the artificial turf of the three athletic fields at Birch and South Walnut streets are turnstiles for the high school and legacy fields, wider steps to the field at the high school, bleacher screening at the high school and ADA-compliant ramps at the high school.

The work is scheduled to begin in May of 2023 and will be completed by the end of July.

The general lifespan of artificial turf is 15 years, Wolhafe said. Additionally, Kennett’s grounds are tested for safety and maintained every year, he said.

Members of the board inquired about the composition of artificial turf as the motion was placed on the table for a vote.

Wolhafe said below the faux grass is a composition of sand and crumbed rubber. The new turf is generally the same composition as it was 14 years ago, although manufacturing improvements may have been made in the past decade-and-a-half, he added. 

The sand-and-rubber composition materials tend to soften the falls of the athletes, Wolhafe said, responding to a question from board president Vicki Gehrt.

Board member Ethan Cramer, who was formerly a member of the Kennett Square Borough Council, said below the turf layer on the property is an efficient drainage system.

Wolhafe said he believes most if not all of the southern Chester County high schools have artificial turf rather than natural grass on their fields.

The two other bids for the project were $2.79 million and $2.30 million. When board members asked why the other bids were so much higher, Wolhafe said the bidding process often prompts companies to “throw out” high bids randomly and frequently, even when there is no real probability that they will be accepted.

In other business:

Gehrt was re-elected president of the board at the reorganization meeting. Likewise, David Kronenberg was reelected vice president.

Superintendent Dusty Blakey reported that the 17-year old from Delaware who confessed to calling in a bomb threat that closed the high school for an afternoon had been arrested.

Blakey added that he is pleased with the support of and cooperation with the local police.