PTO Today

Our school has 35 plus year old playground equipment. The PTO would like to set up a playground fund to begin saving for new equipment. However, our principal is against this, saying that our equipment is fine. It's all metal, rusting, foul words scratched into it, and very outdated. The principal also said we couldn't get plastic because it would interfere with children who have cochlear implants. Does anyone have any ideas on where we could look to get prices for reasonable priced, "cochlear implant safe", playground equipment? Maybe if we get some prices, we can change our principals attitude towards the equipment.

Have you checked to see if your equipment is still up to safety codes........ it's probably not. That would help your principal to see the light!!

Good luck to you. Ours is 50 years old and a safety nightmare (some still over asphalt!) I would check with a couple manufacturers just to inquire if the plastic playground equipment is safe for your school's needs. Our PTO is getting ready to purchase a $6000 slide for the school and I submitted a letter to the superintendent calling it purely a gift, etc. So how can you turn down a gift? I guess start with a couple sales reps and see what you get. Maybe it will be enough to surprise your principal. Also, FYI if it is that old and your principal is up to speed on ear implant needs maybe he would acknowledge that your current stuff probably isn't meeting ADA requirements either. If you want good safety info check out the Consumer Products Safety councils handbook for Playgrounds checklist. Just google that and you should find it.

Julie

I'm not sure if it's up to code. Another reason our principle probably doesn't want the new playground equipment, is because she likes to have money in the PTO for what she wants in the school. For example, she wants a big screen TV in our library (for what reason, we don't know), she wants a Smart Board in the library (we just purchased 2), and on and on. She wants us to purchase things she wants and we think it's time to give something to the kids. Right now our money in PTO is pretty much at a zero because we had a President this year that overspent on everything and we had to pay for it. But that's a different story. I'm President next year, so we'll make sure that doesn't happen again. Anyway, we want to set up something where we can just add a little money here and there to raise enough to get playground equipment. I'm going to look into the safety code thing though. That may be a good place to start.
Thanks for all your help!

We are currently raising money for our playground. We also have a committee that is looking into grants. Have you thought about trying to get grants to fund your playground? We are have several disabled children, we are hoping to find playground equipment that will fit their needs too. It's just a suggestion and something that might help to get your Principal's attention. I know your state might have grant's available. Call your state Senator. We did!

Please contact the Folks at Northenr Iowa University. They have an area that specializes in playground safety and can give you a checklist to walk through and show your principal. Our pastor gave us a hard time about building a new playground and I threatened to have the folks at Northern Iowa University come out and condemn it publicly. We now have a beautiful playground.

I checked my information and the people that run the Institute for National Playground Safety are at Northern Iowa University. The individual I worked with was Heather Olsen. She not only helped us get the message across that our old playground needed to come down, she reviewed our plans for the new playground and gave us some great advice in its design.

heres a link for plygrd safety issues

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/325.pdf

About the cochlear inplant issue--I found this:

Slides zap children's cochlear implants

Cochlear Implants and Sports

Cochlear Implants

Cochlear Implants: One Family's Decision for Their Deaf Child

I feel the principal's argument is weak at best. We must now ignore safety to accomodate a couple of children? I'd speak to the parents of cochlear implant children at your school--ask them what they think. You can always add a metal slide for those kids should there be an issue with the parents. I've a friend whose daughter has a CI, and she told me that the principal was being ridiculous in your case. She said there are SO many things that affect it, from MRI's to staticky carpets! She would just tell her daughter not to use a slide, or to remove the outer part that would be causing the problem.

Safety is s BIG issue, and if you were to bring a Certified Playground Safety Inspector (CPSI) to your playground and have them write a report you'd have some more ammo.

Good Luck!

Do any of you have any great ideas for raising money for playground equipment? This is something that we are thinking of doing next year, and I would love any and all ideas that you may have. What's a realistic time goal on how long it would be before that would be possible? I know each case is different, but your experience would be greatly appreciated!!