This letter was sent to the HUUSD Board and The Valley Reporter.
By Sam and Sarah Rosenberg
We are writing to you today to address the funding of the playgrounds at the elementary schools in our district.
Ever since our 4-year-old son, Sonny, was born, when we travel, we check Google Maps for nearby playgrounds. This is often our first and only impression of the schools where we happen to be staying. When we moved to the district last summer, we visited every playground within the first few weeks of being here. As any parents would, we formed opinions about the schools based on these playground visits.
We’ve spent the last month researching how playgrounds were funded prior to the 2016 merger as well as how they are funded now. What we’ve found is that prior to the merger, each school was responsible for any upgrades to their playgrounds. Post-merger, the school district funding is a bit more complicated: principals have to make a request to the facilities manager, who then decides whether to include the request in a budget that is presented to the board for final approval.
The individual school principals along with the facilities manager and his team have done a fantastic job making sure that all the existing equipment is well maintained, but almost all of it is now quite old. The more research we see on how play enhances overall development; the more playground equipment has been updated to enhance play. Playgrounds installed today look dramatically different than playgrounds installed 10 years ago, which look dramatically different than playgrounds installed 10 years before that. However, in our research, there does not seem to be a current districtwide plan for when to upgrade equipment unless it is to address a safety issue. This leaves children in the district to play on decades-old equipment which is no more appropriate than leaving them to learn on decades-old laptops.
There is a districtwide budgeting plan for replacing items like aging laptops, so what I would suggest is that the board set a rotating playground upgrade budget. The school with the oldest equipment could receive funds in year one, or maybe the school with the least ADA compliant equipment would receive the year one funds. Regardless of the distribution methodology, schools could count on funds being available to be spent rather than either waiting for equipment to become unsafe or relying on principals to ask for funds for their school.
By making this one small procedural change, the board can ensure that all the playgrounds will be refreshed, be a source of pride for our entire district and truly enhance our amazing elementary school system.
Thank you very much for taking the time to consider this proposal.
The Rosenbergs live in Moretown.
