Lanesborough Elementary Asking Town To Help Fix Playground
 The preschool and kindergarten playground is open to the community. |
Director of Pupil Services Kimberly Grady says the smaller of the two playgrounds at the Elementary School is under her purview but she has no budget to keep up with maintenance and replacing items damaged by the users.
"Right now things that have to be fixed comes out of my budget," Grady said.
She said she needs the playground to be up to snuff in order to receive her licensure to run the preschool program. Such things as the sanitization of the sandbox is inspected before the program can begin.
Grady had a $6,000 "supplies" line last year but she was able to win a grant for that so it was removed from the budget. That grant, however, doesn't cover repairs to the playground.
"It is perceived as a community playground," Grady said, adding that the town maintains the fence gate that is often broken.
The School Committee says if the town wants to keep it open to the community, it is going to have to help chip in the cost for upkeep. Items are often broken or stolen from the playground when school isn't in session.
"If they want it to be a community playground, it should fall under parks and recreation," Chairwoman Regina DiLego said.
Principal Ellen Boshe suggested the school could get a lock for the sandbox, which will help avoid any issues. If town doesn't help with the cost, the school may have to lock the entire playground up.
"I'd hate to see that but if push comes to shove, we have to," said School Committee member Jim Moriarty. "There are a lot of families that use it."
Grady says she doesn't want to see it closed to the community but she does need those repairs to be made to keep the preschool program running.
So far, Grady says 15 children are signed up for the next preschool program. Letters asking parents for deposits will be sent out soon, she said.
"We are posting for the open six slots to surrounding towns," Grady said.
She said she believes the program will be filled to capacity and provide some $40,000 to $50,000 in revenue. The preschool program was only recently revived after being revamped. The School Committee closed the program for a year after it was losing money. The program was brought back last year and so far has been filling up.
Tags: playgrounds,
