School is in session and so is recess. That’s why four elementary schools will have updated playgrounds by the end of the month.
Ron Kuhlmann, director of maintenance for the school district, said that, by the end of September, the installation of new playground equipment at Riverside, Timmerman, William Allen White and Walnut schools will be complete. Village and Logan Avenue updated to ADA-accessible playground equipment a few years earlier.
“Village and Logan already had them in place, so it is now the remaining K-through-4 grade schools receiving the new equipment,” Kuhlmann. “These playgrounds are designed to allow those with physical handicaps to be able to access and play on this equipment.”
Kuhlmann said the equipment includes wheelchair ramps that go the height of the structures and a specialized rubber surfacing as opposed to the standard mulch, which is the biggest portion of the nearly $92,000 cost per playground. The surfacing is a one-time installation, and, although it has a high initial expense, Kuhlmann said it will save the district money in the long run. Teachers like the surface because it is safer and gives students less chance of injury on the playground.
New installations can take anywhere from two to three weeks. Crews started at Riverside, which was complete before school began. Next was William Allen White, which was finished this week. Now work has begun on Timmerman. Walnut will be last.
In the meantime, Kuhlmann said, children will use other play areas for recess and cannot get into the construction site. At William Allen White, that meant sending children farther away from the school building, but Kuhlmann said for a short few weeks, it was the safest choice for the students.
“This is not a mandated thing,” Kuhlmann said. “We wanted to put this equipment in to benefit the students. It doesn’t have to be done, but there were remaining bond funds, so we utilized them.”
Kuhlmann said this is also a way to catch the other schools up with Logan Avenue and Village. Their playgrounds installed similar equipment several years ago.
“The district wanted to add them to keep the playgrounds all at the same level of equal access to the students at each school,” Kuhlmann said.
The equipment was purchased from Athco of Kansas City. Installations were sub-contracted to a Wichita company. Kuhlmann said he recently received feedback through an Athco representative who came to Riverside.
“He and the supervising teacher said the students were just having a ball and the teacher was really glad to see it happening in the district,” Kuhlmann said. “The great thing about this equipment is it’s not designed strictly for those with special needs. Anyone can play on it. Everything we’ve heard has been positive so far.”