Rock Rapids, Iowa — An update is planned to playground facilities at an area school, and you can help.
Principal Steve Harmon at Central Lyon Elementary School in Rock Rapids says their elementary population has grown exponentially in the past few years, but their playground hasn’t been updated or touched in the last 20 years. He says parts of it are unusable, such as a broken handicap swing and a cracked slide. He says they’ve been working with the teachers and students, and noting their concerns.
He tells us about the current playground equipment.
He says some other equipment in that southern area of the playground will remain, such as the sand tables, which are used quite a bit by kids with disabilities. He says the current main play area is for 7-12-year-olds, but the new equipment would have a different age focus.
Harmon says they’re looking at putting a rubber mulch under the new equipment. He says the mulch has a better “fall factor” than the current pea gravel. That is to say that if kids fall on it, they have a lower chance of getting hurt.
He says really, it’s all an incentive to get kids outside.
Harmon tells us about the budget.
He says the playground is the only playground for about three-quarters of a mile in the southern part of Rock Rapids, so it gets used by neighborhood kids in the summer too.
Harmon says the Rock Rapids Kiwanis is looking to help out as well. They have an annual pancake supper and this year, the proceeds will be going to the playground project. It’s scheduled for Wednesday, February 15th, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Forster Community Center in Rock Rapids.
