Hello! I was wondering if we anyone had the opportunity to build their playground at an elementary school? If so, was your school district willing to pay for the liability insurance? If not, how did you obtain liability insurance for your playground/playspace? Our district said they are not in the playground building business; however, they are the owners of the land and ultimately will be held responsible for any accidents. There only issue is that they do not want to pay for the insurance, which the PTO agreed to pay for it but we are having trouble getting liability insurance. Does anyone know anything about the liability insurance that would be willing to explain it to us? Maybe I'm not asking the insurance companies the right questions. Any help and suggestions would be greatly appreciated, especially since this is one of the major obstacles preventing us from moving forward with the project. Thanks so much, ~Jen, Nicole and Dan
I'm going to ask around the office and see if I can get you some helpful hints. Has anyone else run into this?
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The folks around here deal with insurance a different scale so I'm having trouble getting something useful for you. In the meantime, you are getting an awful lot of great ideas from folks who have already been through this.
Our District is strapped for cash when it comes to playground projects because building a playground for us means that we would have to eventually build for the other 80+ elementary schools in our district.
However, when approached in the sense that the district is saving $30,000 plus in equipment, it doesn't make sense to not pony up the insurance cost (minimal) since it is simply being added to the school grounds which are already paid on anyways.
Hope it works out for you. Start with contacting someone in Maintenace and see if they can direct you up the ladder that will get you the signature you need. Hope it all worlks out for you.
So I guess I will be learning about the liability insurance issue later, but my focus is also with the public schools, and I am interested to know about this issue so I can be prepared when I get to that point...I will talk to someone in maintenance as soon as I return from UPLAY!... WOW! another hurdle, huh...?
I came up against the insurance issue at our playground meeting Mon. night. There is a group of parents who put the playground committee together so it isn't technically under the PTO as of yet. A few people at the meeting expressed that they feel if they help build the playspace that they can be named in a lawsuit if a child is injured while playing on the equipment. Does anyone know if we are building the playground on the school property do we need separate liability insurance? The PTO won't be listed as the organization doing the build. It will be parents and a few teachers. I am a teacher at the school and wonder if I should take out an umbrella insurance policy to cover myself?
From Randi K:
Thinking off the top of my head, once the project is deeded over to the school it has passed an inspection and becomes the property of the school like anything else. If your group purchased desks and chairs I don't think you would be held accountable if a child fell off of them. I would think that once the property is signed over to the school district, any libility is theirs. With that said, I always take out an umbrella policy for events because it's required as part of my association's due diligence with our insurance carrier. The extra $100 is well worth any day of event issue that might come up. Keep us posted on what answer you receive.
Jen
Thanks for the info. I look forward to hearing what your group finds out. We have many concerned parents but everyone is getting more encouraged with the idea of a community build.
Looks like your group is making good progress!
ps_lifeisgood
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