Dear SP-EYE,
Wow, did you hit a sore spot! Some parents’ groups (say, ones that might have the highest F&R #’s in the city) can’t afford new playground pieces as the old ones wear out. Price out a slide or two – it takes a lot of pizzas (Would you like to buy one or two? I can send you an order form.) to buy one single piece. And then, you have to pay for installation, too, because the district will not do it.
Even when a parents’ group buys a school sign because the district wouldn’t provide that (no equity again – two new elementary schools, two fabulous brand new marquee signs available and lit on day one), no installation by the district; we had to get a company to donate that, too!
Anyway, despite board members’ insistence that playgrounds would be equitable (discussion item at the first diversity meeting last spring), building and grounds will only REMOVE worn or dangerous pieces – but not REPLACE them. So if your kiddos’ parents’ group doesn’t have tens of thousands to bankroll playground equipment, their playgrounds are going to look pretty bleak if they’re not at one of the newer schools!
Just for fun, count the number of basketball courts/hoops at each school. Then figure it out per capita – wanna guess which one has the fewest?
Last year one parents’ group paid several hundred dollars for playground aide radios (safety thing) not covered by the district, not to mention other playground/recess toys and balls that there was no money in the budget for. These are basic needs – so there’s nothing left to “save” for a playground equipment fund. If you want to know what goes in and out of a parents’ group budget, ask the officers. Most of the schools have contacts posted on the website. Minutes are often there, too. It shouldn’t be a secret.
Please don’t use my name.
SP-EYE - Again...school board members don't particularly like it that names are withheld, but they need to get the message that community members, parents, and district staff DO fear retaliation...either to themselves, or their children. And until that fear--whether real or perceived-- is eliminated, that's the way we will do things here. We're not the State Journal here.
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