Voorheesville to reveal new $200K playground design at talent show
The Enterprise — H. Rose Schneider
The 25-year-old playground at Voorheesville Elementary School is to be taken down and replaced with a new structure in the spring of 2018, committee members hope.
VOORHEESVILLE — Last fall, Jaime Chismark’s daughter — then a second-grader at Voorheesville Elementary School — had news that her school’s playground was in disrepair.
More specifically, she wanted to let her principal know the track slide for a zip-line type structure was missing.
The 25-year-old playground is also currently missing some railing and tire swings. Some of the remaining tires have steel rods sticking through the surface, and parts of the wooden structure are splitting. The playground is also not compliant with the current standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“It’s had its lifespan,” said Chismark.
Chismark’s daughter spent a few recess periods with elementary school Principal Jeffrey Vivenzio, going over what was wrong with the current playground and what it would cost to repair it.
It was determined by last spring that the playground repairs would cost as much as replacing the entire playground. A 14-member committee was formed, the Friends of the Voorheesville Playground, including Vivenzio, Superintendent Brian Hunt, and Chismark as the chairwoman of the committee.
The committee also had a number of other parents, as well a custodian and physical and occupational therapists who work in the school.
“We wanted to make sure we had a variety of stakeholders involved,” said Vivenzio.
With a vendor in place and a design created, the committee will be revealing the plan at the elementary school talent show on Friday night at 6p.m. A poster with the design will be on display in the foyer, as well as samples of pieces of the playground.
The new design will keep wood as the base material, but this time it will be yellow pine wood, which doesn’t splinter, said Chismark. The new playground will also have cargo nets, a twisty slide, a climbing apparatus, and a separate area just for preschoolers. It will also be ADA compliant and include more ramps for wheelchairs and a wider swing and slides.
A mad dash by children to the original playground, which was built by volunteers in 1991, marked the opening of the new structure. Now, a committee is looking to replace it with a new structure.
At the talent show’s intermission, two videos will play; one commemorating the old playground, and one presenting the new playground. The school also wrote a song about the playground for the children to sing.
The old playground will be removed by the district and brought to a landfill, said Vivenzio.
Chismark emphasized that she didn’t want to draw attention away from the children’s performances.
“The playground is for the kids; it’s about the kids,” she said. “What better way to have it for the kids,” she added about presenting it at the talent show.
The proceeds from the talent show go to Spirit Community, which will donate part of the proceeds to the playground’s fund and part of the proceeds to the New Scotland Food Pantry.
The committee won’t start fundraising until the spring, but has already received over $13,000 of its $200,000 goal, in part because of a $10,000 donation from Atlas Copco Comptec LLC, which has a location in the village of Voorheesville.
Hard at work, Maggie, the mother of Rose and Sam Mitchell, then Voorheesville students, applies finishing touches to the Voorheesville playground in June, 1991. One of many volunteers, she was responsible for sealing cut edges of wood.
“We’re pretty excited,” said Chismark. She said the goal is to complete the playground by 2018.
Removing the old playground and replacing it with the new one will take place over spring break, said Vivenzio, so that it does not disturb the students’ recess.
Funds will also be raised using a sponsorship program, a penny drive, and possibly a student-held dance-a-thon.
Vivenzio said the district will pay for the removal of the old playground, but otherwise the goal is to completely pay for the new playground with funds raised.
The vendor who will build the playground, Margie Salt of Park Street Playground, will be sending the equipment to the school. Volunteers will assemble the playground under the watch of a supervisor from the company.
“Just like they did it in 1991,” said Chismark, recalling how the last playground was also assembled by volunteers.
Vivenzio said that the playground should keep its community feel, just as the old has.
“The current playground has been a staple of the community for so long,” he said.
The new playground will also remain in the same location as the current one. In the early 1990s, after it was built, the playground’s location was scrutinized for being within 100 feet of high voltage power lines which run along route 85A. The school district worked with Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation to survey the area; the company eventually agreed to bury one line and relocate another.
Vivenzio said that the current location for the playground has proven safe, and that the new playground will not be moved any closer to the power lines.
At some point, said Vivenzio, a time capsule from 1991 will be opened during the process of establishing the new playground.
Corrected on Jan. 23, 2017: A typographical error in the number in the headline was corrected.
