Standish-area school district approves funds for playground replacements
MSAD 6 closed or removed many of its school playgrounds because they were in need replacement. The district approved $250,000 of capital reserve funds Monday to replace them. (Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer)
Maine School Administrative District 6 committed $250,000 Monday for new playground equipment at five of its six elementary schools. The playgrounds were removed this summer after they failed a safety inspection in the spring.
Community members encouraged the district, which spans Buxton, Standish, Limington, Hollis and Frye Island, to act quickly in replacing the structures over concerns that students will not have designated play equipment for recess this school year.
Parents, teachers and principals have formed a group to raise additional funds for playground equipment that is accessible to children with disabilities and exceeds the standard ADA equipment the district-approved funds can cover.
“We need playground equipment because those kids — it’s been said in every child manual you’ve got — need more outdoor time, and they don’t get it sometimes at home because it’s easy to put them in front of those computers,” said Buxton resident Linda Fuller at the Aug. 10 school board meeting.
The $250,000 is part of a $1.375 million draw from the capital reserves fund for improvements and upgrades that passed unanimously at Monday’s school board meeting. The other expenditures, such as roof repairs and replacements, are necessary for keeping schools open, said board member John Sargent. The board decided the playground equipment was important enough to pass along with those purchases.
“With these improvements to our facilities, looking forward, we shouldn’t have too many major things coming down the pike,” Sargent said, adding that the district still has over $1 million in capital reserves. “We’re taking just what’s necessary.”
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Amanda Martin, a Standish resident and parent of a kindergartener in MSAD 6 who has a disability, encouraged the district to pass the spending package before the vote.
She said in an interview that her daughter will have to go to Buxton Center Elementary School, rather than the smaller elementary school closer to where they live, because it is the only school in the district that still has a playground.
“(My daughter) needs a play structure, something to sort of gravitate toward, so she won’t elope away,” Martin said. “It was really affecting my life, and I wanted to know how quickly this was going to move along.”
After the finance and facilities committee meeting on Aug. 13, Martin met with school board member Cynthia Meserve and facilities and business staff to discuss the replacements. Staff said they would not have time to write grant requests for additional funds on an expedited timeline. Based on that feedback, she organized a larger meeting with parents, teachers and principals to discuss volunteer work to conduct the fundraising, and potential additional equipment they want to see.
At that meeting, the group collectively decided they liked the Massachusetts-based equipment company O’Brien & Sons, said Martin. They decided to conduct fundraising for extra playground amenities through grant applications and soliciting corporate sponsors.
Martin said structures that provide shade, pour-in rubber surfaces that are safer and more wheelchair-friendly than woodchips, and accessible ramps were all mentioned at the meeting as features people would want to see.
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“We have kind of a wish list, and it is expensive,” Martin said.
She said there will be another meeting on Sept. 17 for stakeholders to finalize their priorities for playground features and fundraising plans. Ideally, she would like to see two of the playgrounds added before winter.
Superintendent Brian Campbell previously said administrators are considering other ways to keep kids active during recess, including games such as tetherball and four square and activities like snowshoeing and sledding.
School board Chair Kelley Heath expressed enthusiasm about the allocated $250,000 after the expenditure passed Monday.
“I want to thank everybody involved in this situation of finding some things that were going on with our playgrounds, that they may not have been safe, and turning that terrible situation into a wonderful opportunity for the community and finance and facilities, board members and the administration to all come together,” Heath said.
Staff conducted the safety inspection of the playground equipment after a parent complained that their child’s foot got stuck in a hole in a taped-off slide at one of the schools in the spring.
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Tagged: elementary school, msad 6
Madeleine is a community reporter for Gorham, Buxton and Standish. She started her journalism career in Vermont, where she reported for Seven Days and served as the editor-in-chief of Middlebury College's. More by Madeleine Kaptein
