The Mercer Island School District has posted a communitywide notice that the city’s leash law must be followed on district property. The increased attention to the city law is, in part, to do with the fact that the district has replaced several of its grass fields — Islander Stadium, the fields at Islander Middle School and soon the South Mercer Playfields — with synthetic turf fields, which are more difficult to sanitize from pet feces.

According to MISD Director of Maintenance and Operations Keith Ellis, “Now that synthetic turf is there, the field surface is harder to clean because the [feces] gets deeper into the turf. We gotta go out there and shovel it off and disinfect it before kids can play.”

The school district posted its leash law reminder online for public viewing last month. In the short news release, Ellis refers to the growing danger of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a bacterial infection that is highly resistant to some antibiotics, spreading through turf fields.

“Dog excrement can allow bacteria such as MRSA to live in synthetic surfaces and continue growing. We cannot remove it the way we can in real grass,” the maintenance and operations director is quoted as saying. “We need to be extra careful with this and appreciate our community’s cooperation.”

Yet Island doctor Paul Conrad said that Ellis’ statement is completely unfounded.

“MRSA may be a problem in sports, but the presence of dogs around our artificial surfaces has little or no bearing on MRSA contamination or infection,” Conrad wrote in a recent letter to the editor.

The Island resident said he searched for scientific literature backing up Ellis’ point. He failed to find any.

“I’m a physician and pediatrician, and I talked with another [medical] fellow at Children’s Hospital. Neither of us had heard of any evidence,” Conrad said.

Conrad was upset that the school district drew this “unfounded” correlation between pets and the spread of MRSA on turf athletic fields. In his opinion, the district was using MRSA as a scare tactic to keep dog owners from using school fields.

“Using MRSA as a ‘hot button’ to justify a policy against dogs is misleading and could prove harmful by masking the true risks of MRSA and the health hazard it presents to our children,” he wrote.

When the Reporter asked Ellis about the veracity of his statement, the maintenance director apologized and said that it was a “misstep” on his part.

“That’s a misconception and mistake on my part. I overstepped my bounds before I really knew what I was talking about,” he said. “I looked into it later with our nursing staff, and MRSA can’t be caused by urine or feces.”

The district’s online leash law notice also reminds residents that, per city law, dogs are not allowed on any school ground or associated school facilities, including playgrounds, athletic courts and fields.

“This rule applies at the high school stadium, JV, upper and lower north fields, the South Mercer Playfield complex, and the elementary school fields,” the news release reads.

According to Ellis, vigilance over the leash law is primarily about hygienic concern, even if MRSA is not a factor.

Synthetic turf surfaces, although positive in many aspects, have the negative characteristic of serving as a prime breeding ground for bacteria. When players scrape their knees on the field, for example, it allows bacteria found in MRSA to spread and be contracted by other student athletes. This observation has been founded by widespread studies.

Conrad, also, verified these findings. The physician emphasized that, unlike dog excrement onto field turf, the spread of MRSA through contact sports is something that should be looked out for.

“The real emphasis I wanted to make is that if you look at the connection of MRSA infection to students, it’s primarily through contact sports,” Conrad said. “So parents and athletes, especially football players, should be aware of this.”

Superintendent Gary Plano emphasized the fact that “a law is a law.” Whatever the reasons, he said, pets are not allowed to run loose on school property.

“We’ve received complaints from people who are afraid of the animals and from people who feel it’s unsanitary to have them running on the track and field,” Plano said. “We can’t have that. It’s really a city ordinance.”

According to Mercer Island law, dogs are allowed on-leash in spectator areas around city fields, including Homestead Park, Island Crest Park and the Lid. Dogs are not allowed off-leash on city ball fields when practices, games or other organized activities are in progress. Dogs are not allowed on any school district property unless they are certified service animals.

“We have always had signs that say ‘No dogs allowed,’ and we need to enforce that,” Plano said.

For more information on the city leash law and Island off-leash parks, visit www.miparks.net and click on the “Off Leash” tab. For details on MRSA, visit: www.doh.wa.gov/topics/antibiotics/mrsa.htm.