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In response to parental concerns, Rochester Public Schools confirms Washington Elementary playground is safe – Post Bulletin | #hacking | #aihp


ROCHESTER — Although parents at Washington Elementary would like Rochester Public Schools to upgrade the school’s playground equipment sooner rather than later, the district is postponing the project until it is able to restructure its budget but confirmed that the current equipment is safe for use.

A parent at the school, Lauren Oien, said a safety report on the playground found that gaps and cracks in the flooring have made it uneven, and a hazard for tripping and falling. In order to replace the flooring, the whole playground would need to be replaced, she said.

“This has posed a great issue, as the school district at this time would not help fund new playground equipment and has put the burden to fundraise for a new playground on the families of our school,” she told the Rochester School Board on Tuesday. “This does not make sense to me, nor does it to any of the families at our school.”

Oien said it would cost $137,000 to replace the playground area. During her comments to the board, Oien said Washington families were notified last fall through the school’s principal that a health and safety inspector deemed the playground “unsafe.”

Oien provided a copy of a written response from RPS Superintendent Kent Pekel to a parent at the school. In his response to the parent, Pekel emphasized that if the playground had been deemed unsafe, the district would have addressed the situation immediately.

He reiterated that in a statement to the Post Bulletin.

“I have been unable to identify where the idea that our health and safety staff said the playground is unsafe originated,” said Pekel, who went on to explain that the district reviewed the playground after hearing the parents’ concerns. “I asked our health and safety coordinator to go out and evaluate the playground and he confirmed that it is safe for student use.”

Pekel explained that the district isn’t able to fund improvements right now due to the budget constraints it is working through.

However, he went on to say that the district plans to create “a new approach to funding playground updates as part of the larger redesign of our district’s funding and staffing systems.” That process will happen in 2023-24 and be implemented in 2024-25.

A Washington Elementary School student’s bright red shoes stand in contrast to the rubber flooring on the school’s playground Wednesday afternoon, May 17, 2023, in Rochester. Some parents of students at Washington Elementary School have concerns that Rochester Public Schools may not be willing to pay for the upkeep of the current playground equipment.

Joe Ahlquist / Post Bulletin

Contrary to Oien’s public comment to the school board, Pekel agreed in his written response to the parent that the cost of replacing or upgrading the equipment shouldn’t have to be the responsibility of families at the school or the Parent Teacher Association.

Washington Elementary is located in northwest Rochester near John Marshall High School. It’s one of the district’s choice schools, meaning families choose to enroll there rather than attending based on their home address.

“I wish it was possible to move that process forward more quickly,” Pekel wrote to the parents about the upcoming playground improvements. “I can’t say at this point which schools will be given highest priority for the annual playground upgrades once we have developed our new system, but we will put in place a clear and transparent process for doing so.”

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