Elementary School Playground

 

Ready? Set. Play! With the generous support of the community through PTO fundraisers, grants, and alumni association donations, Winterset Elementary School now offers Madison County’s children the latest in playground equipment. Not only is it far safer than the equipment that was removed earlier this year, but it is accessible to current and future students who require the use of crutches, wheelchairs, or other mobility devices to get around.

 

Lots of thought went into selecting the elements of the new colorful playground equipment. Connected with vivid blue posts and bright yellow metalwork, the playground has something for everyone. A rock-climbing wall leads to the monkey bars, while nearby a rainbow-colored slide leads back to the ground. Ramps invite children of all abilities to explore the mazes, puzzles, and games built right into the play equipment. One section depicts the American Sign Language alphabet with a special message to decode on the opposite side. There are shady areas and sunny areas which will all be safe and fun for children now and in the years to come.

 

It all started when the staff at Winterset Elementary School wanted to find a better option than the layer of pea gravel beneath the kindergarten play area.

 

“Our kids tend to stick [the pea gravel] in ears and noses, and it tends to get thrown,” explains elementary school principal, Gary Anker, adding that, “pea gravel also tends to get dirty and compacted.”

 

Upon receiving a grant to replace the kindergarten groundcover with spongy rubber mats, the district sent two school maintenance workers to a seminar to learn more about the safety upgrade and how to maintain the new mats. Part of their “homework” was to grade the school’s current equipment—which they were shocked to find large portions of ranked at an “F” in things such as safety heights and fall zones. The outdated equipment was promptly removed, and plans for a new playground got underway.

 

“Knowing that we needed to replace some equipment, we started thinking about getting some equipment that all of our children can utilize,” shared Principal Gary Anker. “We don’t have a lot of kids in wheelchairs with walkers or crutches, but we do have a few and we wanted them to be able to use the playground too.”

 

As it turned out, it was time for the PTO to hold their semi-annual fundraiser. With their goal project in mind, the school began researching playground equipment companies. They decided on one that could match the current (still safe) equipment seamlessly (you have to look for scuff marks to tell the old from the new).

 

Planners soon realized that a four-inch concrete slab would be necessary to support the integrity of the rubber mats—which are the latest in playground technology and pretty expensive. They selected local concrete professional Greg Alexander, who the principal lauds did a fantastic job.

 

In order to save on installation costs, Winterset Community Schools requested a supervisor from the playground company to come and direct a crowd of local volunteers on how to install the new equipment.

 

July 20^th and 21^st were the first available dates, and fell during the Madison County Fair. On Friday morning as many as 28 volunteers appeared, ready to work. Among the crowd were PTO members and their spouses, pastors from Winterset Community Church, elementary school custodians, Ben Applegate (the district finance officer) and many other community volunteers, who spent the better part of their day installing the playground.

 

“The key to the whole thing was Randy Jeffs—the head of buildings and grounds for Winterset Community School District,” shared Mr. Anker. He went on to describe the many meetings and phone calls Mr. Jeffs made to the playground company and all the preparation work he and the grounds crew did (including as many as 60 precisely drilled holes to make sure the equipment would sit securely on the cement slab) to get the things ready for the installation.

 

When lunchtime approached, an elementary school teacher delivered enough chips, salad, and hamburgers from the Cattlemen’s Association restaurant on the fairgrounds to feed all the hungry workers. Mr. Anker says the donation was anonymous, and greatly appreciated. Hours of labor later, suppertime approached and Mr. Anker asked the supervisor if 5:00 would be a good stopping time for the day. He was amazed to hear that the volunteers had worked so hard, the two-day project would be fully completed well before that time!

 

“He said, ‘You guys are amazing! I’ve never seen a crew work like this before,’” recounted Mr. Anker of the supervisor’s awe.

 

To top off the project, city workers showed up to hoist a heavy roof structure onto the heights of the playground equipment.

 

“The City Utility workers came down with their big boom truck and crane, lifted it up on top, and set it in place for us,” described Anker. “Without those guys we would have had a very, very difficult time getting that thing up there.”

 

Surveying a job well (and quickly) done, the construction crew sat down to a second anonymously donated meal, this time tasty pork loin sandwiches cooked by the Pork Producers at the county fair.

 

The playground still has about a week left before it’s ready to be used by the community. The cement pad beneath needs a bit more time to cure (let moisture escape and settle) before the grounds crew can glue down the new three-inch thick cushy rubber safety layer. When these things are done, children are welcome to swing, spin, slide, climb, and enjoy the new playground—Mr. Anker hopes—for many, many years to come.

 

On behalf of the Winterset Community School District, Mr. Anker extends his thanks to everyone in the community who purchased frozen foods, contributed to various fundraisers, spent the day constructing the equipment, and to those who provided the tasty meals from the Cattlemen’s Association and the Pork Producers.

 

“Winterset’s a fantastic community and our community has supported our school in many, many different ways throughout the years,” said Mr. Anker thankfully. “This playground project is yet another example—we had this big fundraiser and they bought our products and helped us raise the money, and then on the day we installed it we just had so many people come out, and feed us, and volunteer, and work all day, and help us out. It’s just a great, great caring community.”

(Published in the Winterset Madisonian 08-15-07)