Our volunteers group is in the process of providing a new playspace for the local elementary school. We have secured enough money for a modest addition and are now working towards getting approval through the school district. All is going well but I can't help but think I could be getting more out of our money.
We have already been told by the district that we cannot install the equipment ourselves for future liability reasons. They are also frowning upon our desire to find an alternate (volunteered or donated) method of delivery.
My question is this - Has anyone here done either of these and was it worth it? Were there any consequences in doing so? And, lastly has anyone else received the same resistance from a school district and sucessfully turned it around?
Thank You,Jeffrey K. Ries
Hi Jeffrey,
Congratulations! I am so happy to hear that you are working to improve play for the kids at your school. You may want to tell your school district that you will have an installer from the equipment manufacturer supervise the install. If you have not purchased your equipment, you can certainly try to negotiate for a donation of their time to supervise the install. He/she can sign off at the end of the build that the playground was built to manufacturer specifications and confirm that all warranties are in place. Additionally, if the school allows a volunteer install, you can offer that they have a Certified Playground Safety Inspector conduct a formal audit of the playground after the build to provide an objective analysis of the playground's safety.
Kate
I totally agree with Kate. Not only is a certified installer-led community build just as valid a method for constructing a playspace as full-professional installation, it brings the added value of ownership through participation to all involved in the process. I suggest petitioning the school board on this matter. You could even cite KaBOOM! as an example of an organization executing over 1300 volunteer-driven community playground builds with an impreccable safety record!
Good luck and keep us updated on how your situation progresses.