HOULTON, Maine — The continued effort to bring new playground equipment to students in grades 3-5 at Houlton Southside School received a big boost thanks to the Houlton Rotary Club.
HSS Principal Cindy Peterson informed the RSU 29 board Monday, March 6, that the school had received the donation.
The school has just over $24,000 in its playground account from fundraising, grant writing and Rotary donations. Of that amount, $10,000 came in the form of a grant from the Putnam Family Trust, Peterson explained. Louisiana Pacific has also donated roughly $6,000 for the project.
Houlton Southside School started saving for new playground pieces about three years ago, when the school board decided to move the sixth grade class from HSS to Houlton Junior-Senior High School. Third-graders were then moved from Houlton Elementary School to HSS to help alleviate over-crowding at the elementary school.
With the introduction of third grade students to the school, officials quickly realized they were lacking with enough pieces of playground gear suitable for the young children. A four-phase plan was then put into motion to secure pieces of equipment over a set time period.
“Phase one was the swings that were put into place this past summer,” Peterson explained. “Phase two will happen this next spring or summer to get our next piece of equipment, which is a fitness cluster, including monkey bars and other climbing features.”
The third phase will include the creation of an outdoor classroom setting, with heavy-duty metal picnic tables. The fourth phase will be the addition of another piece of equipment, based on suggestions from the students.
“We usually let the students have input,” Peterson explained. “But we always keep in mind of things that would be conducive to an all-around good playground. Some of the third-graders have voiced their opinions that they would like to see a slide.”
RSU 29 Superintendent Ellen Schneider said the installation of new equipment would be opened to the general public this summer. Because there is less staff to assist in the summer, the hope is that enough individuals would come out to put the pieces together.
