New School Playground Surfacing: Have a read and share your thoughts

2/12/2020

Thanks to the hard work and generosity of parents, past and present, we've raised all the money we need for the new playground structure. And the cost of the ground preparation (the concrete frame and wood-chips) is included in the new school construction budget. However, because the new school is built with accessibility in mind, students with mobility issues will now be able to attend Tennyson. We know that one family intends for their daughter, who uses a wheelchair, to start at Tennyson next year. So, the Tennyson 2020 committee is now trying to ensure the playground is accessible for people with mobility issues.

The dilemma
While wood-chips are technically considered wheelchair accessible, the reality is they're very difficult for a child to traverse. After carefully considering the options, the Tennyson 2020 committee agreed the best surface for our playground is pour-in place rubber flooring because it's durable, low maintenance and extremely accessible. The cost of pour-in place rubber flooring is more than $100,000.

So what's happening now?

The Vancouver Project Office (VPO) at the Vancouver School Board (VSB) confirmed they will still cover the cost of curbing the site but they can't cover the cost of the rubberized surfacing. The proposed curbing will be exactly what is needed for the rubberized surfacing.
The Tennyson 2020 committee are still in discussions with the VSB but are also to applying to not-for-profit societies for grants to cover the full cost of the surfacing. If we receive the grants we can go ahead as planned for a Fall 2020/Winter 2021 install.
If we don't receive the grants, the VSB will consider including Tennyson in next year's round of provincial Playground Equipment Program applications. It's not guaranteed that we will get this funding but if we do it will cover most of the cost of the surfacing, and installation could go ahead Spring/Summer 2021.

Why are we telling you this?
The Tennyson 2020 committee wants everyone to be aware of the playground plans because the playground is for all our children; the parents are paying for it and we want to hear your thoughts. If there are questions or concerns regarding the pour-in rubber surfacing, then we will schedule the playground resurfacing for further discussion at an upcoming PAC meeting.

Here is some data that you should know

The Provincial Government's Seismic Mitigation Program Progress Report – December 2019 shows 243 schools are now seismically safe or at some stage of the construction process and 248 schools are still waiting to begin.
The Provincial Government's website states they've already spent over $1.6B on seismic upgrade projects throughout the province.
Through the hard work and generosity of current and past Tennyson parents over the last ten years we've raised more than $130,000 to pay for the new playground structure.
This year we are fundraising $40,000 this year for classroom projectors.

3 Comments

Leora

2/11/2020 02:03:05 pm

I have many questions about the playground resurfacing report and agree that this is something that should be discussed further – either through email with the parents or at a future PAC meeting.

I am very much in favour of making the school accessible for all and I am disappointed to learn that making this happen is not appropriately addressed/funded by the VSB for the new school.

The potential delay to installing the playground is very concerning. The lack of appropriate play facilities for all children has been evident this year with conflicts due to overcrowding on the structures, and a general lack of space. I have been in touch with our teacher and principal on several occasions discussing the challenges faced on the playground this year. I have been assured that this is due to the unfortunate situation of having too many kids in too small a space without enough play facilities for all, and should be remedied as soon as we get the new playground area and full use of the whole school area. This is why the potential delay to installing the playground is concerning.

My questions are:
• What is the footprint being discussed? I have seen pictures of the new playground structure and the school grounds on the schematics, but I am not able to tell where the woodchip/rubber flooring area being discussed would be.
• It is mentioned that installation may not go ahead until Summer 2021. In the short-term (while waiting for possible funding), what does the playground look like? Are woodchips installed for the short-term? Do we not have a playground installed until we have full funding?
• What happens if we don’t receive any funding? How long do we postpone installation? As mentioned, we are not guaranteed to receive any funding despite the committee’s best efforts.

Thank you to the committee for all your work. I look forward to discussing this further.

Orla

2/12/2020 05:03:57 pm

Hi Leora,

Thank you for your message, we are always looking for more parents to engage with regarding the progress and challenges for the new school.

I’m happy to answer your questions here, and I hope that you are able to come to this month’s PAC meeting, where we will continue to discuss this issue - it’s been an an ongoing discussion at the last few meetings and we love having more input from parents. We think it’s very important at this point that this is not a new fundraising initiative, as parents have raised $130,000 over 10 years for this project already. We are only looking at outside grants.

First and foremost, the potential rubber surfacing will not delay installation or access to either playground. The K-1 playground is due to be installed over the summer break, and we will know by April if our grant applications are successful or not. If we receive funding, rubber will be installed at this time. If we do not, the wood chips will be put in place, hopefully temporarily.

The intermediate playground (grade 2-7) will be installed in the winter (dec 2020 - Jan 2021) once the building has been demolished and the site has been cleared and prepped. Unfortunately this has to be one of the last elements of the seismic project. Currently the plan is that this will be installed with wood chips, and if our grant application is successful for spring 2021, the wood chips will be replaced with rubber in summer 2021.

Of course, this is all subject to us receiving the funding - but the playground spaces will not be held back waiting for this funding.

I will send you the drawings of each playground space in a separate email when I am back at my computer. The K-1 playground is about 2000 square feet and located at the south west corner of the site (11th and maple). The intermediate playground is on the east side of the new building (overlapping the current building) and is about 2600 square feet.

I’m happy to talk about the playground at any point, and I do hope that you’ll come to the pac meeting Feb 24th.

Cheers,

Katherine

Leora

2/13/2020 11:29:27 am

Great information. Thanks for the thorough reply.
I hope that if we don't receive the grants next year that we will continue to look for alternative funding options to ensure all children have access to the play structures.

New School Playground Surfacing: Have a read and share your thoughts

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