Swampscott Elementary: Glass shards discovered during drainage work

At least eight soil samples contained roughly nine pieces of glass each, forcing the closure of the Swampscott Elementary School field. The discovery occurred last month when a child sustained a cut on the surface.

Facilities Director Max Kasper told the Swampscott School Committee on Tuesday that the issue emerged during attempts to install a drainage system. The field is part of a $100 million elementary school project that started in 2024. Kasper explained that the construction work brought existing material to the surface, creating a significant hazard.

“It’s existing material that was on the site underneath the site,” Kasper said. “We tried to do something good, and really did something bad by bringing it to the surface and now we have a major, a major issue.”

The director presented data from 44 soil samples taken from the area. He noted that the solution will likely require substantial financial resources and time. The goal is to eliminate the risk of future injuries.

“We’ve looked at a series of possibilities, obviously we would like to do something that is lower impact, and is not extremely expensive, but as we’ve talked about it, we think that we need to have a near-zero chance that there’s ever a similar injury on this field again,” Kasper said. “So now that we know exactly what we’re dealing with here, we need to take steps so that something like this never happens again, or anything more serious.”

School staff report that students are adjusting to the closure without major disruption. Teachers have identified alternative outdoor spaces for recess. One teacher observed that the students are more concerned about the upcoming winter weather than the current field situation.

“The kids, it really hasn’t bothered them much,” the teacher said. “They would be more upset if when winter comes or it rains and its indoor recess. The playground has been the dominant area where they want to play.”

Kasper stated that the next step involves hiring a landscaper to develop a plan for removing all the glass from the field.