In September, the Maret School transitioned from using Jackson-Reed and various neighborhood fields as its “home” field to the recently constructed Barret field in Chevy Chase. However, the construction and opening of the fields have enraged the neighborhood and resulted in vandalism, including a picture of “The Lorax” and the words “Shame on you, Maret” spray-painted on the scoreboard.
“The Lorax” is a Dr. Seuss character who protected the environment, famous for the quote, “I speak for the trees.” The vandalism is a nod to the roughly 60 trees (including a few heritage trees) cut down to build the field, which sits on five acres of land that were previously undeveloped in the Chevy Chase neighborhood of DC. The field is surrounded by houses, and it’s close to Lafayette Elementary School. Neighbors were also angered at the artificial turf being installed, citing health and environmental concerns.
Barret Field was constructed to resolve Maret’s lack of a “home” field. The field on Maret’s campus isn’t regulated for many sports, so in the past their sports teams had used facilities at Jackson-Reed and Jelleff. This meant that students had to commute to various other locations solely to see their school play. The new Barrett Field is multi-purposed with a baseball diamond, football/soccer field, and more.
In March 2022, the Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 3/4G and Maret School signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that defined how the construction process should be done and put in place a task force that would monitor the construction.
On April 6, 2022, the DC Board of Zoning Adjustment unanimously approved Maret’s application for a new athletic field behind the Episcopal Center for Children (ECC), and Maret bought the land from the ECC. The field finally opened in September of 2025, and public use has been permitted on the field when it’s not in use by Maret athletics.
The new Barrett Field was built in the Chevy Chase neighborhood, even though many residents opposed the construction due to the massive amount of trees that had to be cut down, the large amounts of turf that will be required to be replaced every few years, and the disruption of the neighborhood. The field is surrounded by houses, and it’s close to Lafayette Elementary School.
The vandalism was not the first example of community opposition, with a previous letter-writing campaign taking place. In order to address the community concerns, the rules for admission to the fields include measures to limit sound and rules limiting spectators in the surrounding neighborhood.
After the first official football game at Barrett Field, it seemed as though it was a success. However, between the night of Friday, October 3rd, and the morning of Saturday, October 4th, vandalism occurred on the scoreboard. A Lorax was spray-painted on the scoreboard with the words “SHAME ON YOU MARET.” It was later removed, but faint orange lines are still visible.
Maren Weiss, a junior at Maret who lives in the Chevy Chase neighborhood near the new Barret Field noted that, “There was a negative impact at Maret as students who didn’t live in the area didn’t know the extent of the issues that neighbors had with the field and did not feel welcome at the field, especially with the scoreboard saying ‘SHAME ON YOU.’ They felt it was a very aggressive approach to the situation.”•
