Berlin Elementary School opened their new playground on Sep. 27.
“During COVID the federal government gave a lot of grants and distribution money across the country to help support schools during and after school. They call this money ESSER. The ESSER funds are federal funds that have to be used up by the end of September of 2024,” superintendent Dr. Emmett Durtschi said.
The ESSER funds mostly helped the school purchase cleaning supplies during covid and help with any extra cost that came.
“The school district had over $2,500,000 of those funds. We used most of these funds for cleaning supplies, masks, and ventilation purposes during covid but more recently we’ve used up some of that money for new music equipment, some staffing but we also had some money available for other projects,” Durtschi said. “I looked for items that were higher ticket items that were helping students that also we could use these funds for so that the taxpayers wouldn’t be asked for money later on.”
A playground should be updated or completely redone at least every 20-30 years. According to Miracle.com. The old playground equipment was about 25-30 years old, so it was not up to code anymore and needed to be completely replaced.
“Most of the structures that are used on the playground are well past their usable life. Some of the pieces were unsafe and people noticed that some of the slides were blocked off by plywood or there were cracked pieces,” Durtschi said. “Also, some of the playground equipment pieces were no longer up to code, so they were past their usable life.”
The playground was completely funded by the ESSER funds, the total cost of the playground was a little under $500,000.
“This was absolutely a need, we had to make a decision whether or not we just fixed pieces or whether we’d place the whole thing. The problem when you fix items that are past their life [is] you can’t get equipment that matches or they actually won’t let you have those pieces because they still wouldn’t be up to code and it would be unsafe, so I made a decision with the school board to replace the whole thing,” Durtschi said.
There were two different playgrounds on Clay. One was for the older kids, grades 3-5, while the other was for younger kids, grades K-2. The playground for grades K-2 was completely torn-out and redone.
“Clay Lamberton has declined in enrollment so there are fewer kids that go to Clay and will continue to be smaller over time,” Durtschi said. “So we decided to consolidate the two playgrounds one to one area, so the new playground that’s being built with the concrete barrier around it will be the entire playground. The old part to the left will be torn out in a couple of weeks.”
Another new addition to this playground is that it will be a lot more accessible to kids with disabilities. There are no tripping hazards walking onto and leaving the playground. There is a part that has a poured-in-place rubber flooring and no wood chips, which makes it easier for people using wheelchairs as well.
“The kids love the new playground and they are very excited to try all the new equipment,” Elementary School Principal Sara Markee said.
As someone walks onto the playground there’s a lot more room for more kids to play all at once. There’s also certain sections of the playground that Berlin Area School District has never had before, such as a mary-go-round and much more.
“I like the new playground, my favorite part is the slides,” Kindergartener Ayda West said.
