Playground Dilemma
The state has launched a new playground program to help keep children safe. But the same program is creating a dilemma for many schools.
News Specialist Nadine Wimmer explains, in this special report.
When the backhoes started digging up the playground at Ferron Elementary, there were long faces in a place that usually sees laughter. Students and former students said things like, "I want to keep playing on them. I want to keep them in." "I see all the good times we've had going through my mind." "There's a big slide over here that my grandpa used to play on, my mother played on it, and I did too, and it's been nice to have my children play on it."
Pretty soon, that was gone too.
It's no labor of love for Merrill Duncan, the contractor charged with pulling up spring horses and trickey bars.
But most of the equipment here does not pass new state standards. Duncan says, "A lot of the playground equipment we have here has been donated from different individuals. I know there's been eagle scout projects done, and all that stuff has to go."
Schools are supposed to buy equipment from companies that carry liability.
The goal is to protect children from injury and taxpayers from lawsuits.
In the last five years, the state has paid out nearly half a million dollars in claims for playground injuries.
Just last year, 13 children broke bones, two severed their fingers and one died from playground injuries.
David Gneiting, of the School Boards Insurance, says, "The safer the playgrounds are, the less chance there is for injury and the less chance there is for a lawsuit."
Unfortunately the equipment is much easier to rip out than it is to replace. A swingset and maybe a jungle gym could cost $20-thousand. The school's entire school budget for next year is $3,500.
At Ferron, like many other schools, parents and school administrators want children to be safe. But they hate to see an era brought to an end by the threat of lawsuits.
The state hopes schools will come into compliance within three years.
It's offering cash incentives to help them do it, but not enough to replace expensive playground equipment.
