New playground delights children at grand opening By Jessica Weekley Staff Writer jessicaw@nwanews.com
Posted on Sunday, May 11, 2008
New life has been given to Koala Community Park and not a moment too soon for Siloam Springs Northside Elementary School teachers. Brightly colored spheres, durable monkey bars and structures resembling spider webs now reside on the lot aside the elementary school campus. "Our new playground is so modern and positive," said Sheryl Braun, Northside principal. "The individual structures are spread out so the children have to run from one thing to another - the whole point is to exercise their little bodies. "In November, when it was determined there were traces of arsenic in the existing wooden structure's pressure treated wood, the equipment was quarantined. Koala Park was first erected in August 1998 by a force of more than 2, 200 volunteers. T he original equipment, intended for both school and community use, was purchased supported by a sizable amount of donations. In January, the Siloam Springs school board unanimously voted that the tainted wooden structure, fencing and wood chips be removed from the site. The city and Haz-Mert, a hazardous material handling company in Springdale, removed the existing equipment.
New equipment was selected, purchased and delivered shortly thereafter by Arkoma Playgrounds of Fayetteville. The city donated $ 50, 000 to the effort, the district pitched in $ 50, 000 of its own money and $ 35, 000 was donated by various school organizations, community businesses and individuals. In late February, equipment was ordered from Arkoma's sister company, environmentally friendly Evos Landscape Structures in Minnesota.
In lieu of using outdoor equipment, for several months students were entertained during recess time by creative ideas from teachers, indoor and yard games, jump ropes, parachutes and a variety of other activities on the north side of the school building.
"It was a pretty rough area but we made do while we had to," Braun said.
Thursday morning, more than 300 wriggling, giggling kindergarten students lined up around the park's brand new equipment for the new playground's official unveiling and ribbon cutting ceremony.
"Our students have actually been playing on the park for a few weeks now and they just love it," Braun said. "We didn't bring the pre-K students out today because of all of the mud but they've been enjoying it too."
With Koala Park open for play once again, Braun, school faculty, Northside pupils and their parents and community members are continuing fundraising efforts to purchase even more equipment.
"The district will be putting in picnic tables, trash receptacles and an area with a roof for shade hopefully sometime this summer," Braun said. "Now that we have all of these fun new amoebas on the playground we plan to purchase more - that's where the fundraising comes in."
The shade pavilion will be approximately 25 foot by 25 foot and will be used for school events, birthday parties and other activities, Braun said.
During Braun's Koala Park dedication speech on Thursday she thanked parents, students, the school district and citizens for bringing the dream of a new park into reality.
"Everyone helped - even our students," Braun said. "Our kids said that they wanted a tree for shade so they spent the past three weeks bringing in pennies, nickels and dimes."
The pupils' collection amounted to $ 96. 50.
"Honey Creek Nursery in Oklahoma ended up actually donating the red oak we requested so the money will be used for a plaque in honor of this class instead," Braun said. "These kids are what this park is all about."
On Friday evening the Northside kindergarten class hosted a circus parade with proceeds from admissions, games and food intended to support the purchase of additional equipment.
"We have a wonderful new park to give to our children," Superintendent Ken Ramey said. "When we work together we can play together and feel good about our community."
Brick "pavers"are available for purchase to the public. Interested parties are invited to contact the school at (479 ) 524-4126 for information regarding the personalized paving bricks.
Prices range from $ 35 to 70 dollars and may include engravings and personalized dedications.
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