My family s got guts

Posted on September 15, 2008

Parents: Monkey business afoot at school playground

Part of the Joseph G. Luther Elementary School playground has been off limits for students for at least four months and parents are angry for what they feel is a lack of action on the School Department’s part. A number of parents gathered at a recent School Committee meeting to find out why wood chips were removed from the jungle gym and monkey bar areas, parts of the playground that are now inaccessible to students. Superintendent Stephan Flanagan said “parental concerns” about the wood chips led to their removal last spring. But there was rough terrain under the mulch, he said, which resulted in closing the playground until a suitable replacement could be found. “We’re looking into pea stones,” said Flanagan, though there were some concerns that the stone, which is currently used at the Hoyle School, could be tracked into the school and damage the floor. “There’s a fine line between using what was there and putting something new there,” said Flanagan. Principal Christine Panarese, who said she has fielded a number of complaints from parents, said she is helping to raise  funds for a new filler. “We’re just trying to keep the kids safe here. We’ve tripled the supervision out there from two teachers to six to make sure everyone is safe,” said Panarese. “I’m hoping to call around for sponsors. I’m willing to use my principal’s fund, which has $800 in it, toward this,” said Panarese, “It should be a minimal fix.” Rough estimates showed the pea stones could cost anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000. Greg Duquette, who has a third grader at the school, said many parents don’t even know why the playground is closed. The parents that do, he said, are mad because they feel nothing has happened to solve the problem. “They’ve had four months to do something but they haven’t done anything,” he said Luther parents, many of whom did not want to go on the record, echoed Duquette’s frustration. They said their children are only allowed to use the swing set area of the playground now, but have also been informed that the swing set is also in need of repairs. Flanagan had no time frame for the arrival of the playground material. “We take the safety of the children seriously and it’s a service that has to be done based on regulations and safety,” said Flanagan, who said at a recent meeting that the money would have to be raised through fund-raising. “They’ve had more than four months to fix this so why hasn’t it (gotten) done? This is for the benefit of the kids, it’s not life and death, and I’m tired of the politics going on around this,” said Duquette. “How do you remove the mulch if you have no plan to fix it? Whatever reason it was removed, it should have been corrected long ago. I just want the problem solved.”E-mail Jay Pateakos at jpateakos@heraldnews.com.

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