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.
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 It's all metal, rusting, foul words scratched into it, and very outdated.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.
