Parents had their say and the administrators had theirs, but the pupils at Euclid and Indian Grove Schools in Mt. Prospect had the final vote on their new playground equipment–and the adults were a little surprised at the results.
Parents thought the slides would be a big hit. They were not.
“The kids wanted more of the climbing stuff than anything. They didn’t really care about the sliding,” said Sue Dickson, PTA president at Euclid, who took sketches of the new playground options to each of the classrooms this week.
And the pupils made their decision: There will be rings to swing from, bars to flip over and plenty of things to climb on when the two new playgrounds are erected this summer.
Mt. Prospect District 57 decided to renovate its playgrounds after seven children broke bones on the lots at the two schools this year. Following a playground safety study this spring, circular monkey bars were removed and slides and other climbers were declared off-limits.
The district will open bids for the work Friday, and construction will be completed this summer.
The school board designated $70,000 to be used for remodeling the playgrounds.
While District 26 is operating at a deficit, Supt. Shirley Smalley said that the purchase of the playgrounds would not affect that debt. The $2.5 million budget deficit is in the education fund, and excess money can not be transferred from one fund to another.
