<p><strong>W</strong>hen school starts again at Center Grove schools in August, all elementary school students will be able to enjoy new playground equipment designed to teach them and make them safer.</p>
<p>Special needs students will be able to walk or roll on a rubber pad that is easier for them to use their wheelchairs on, and the surface will pad the falls of all students. All students will be able to ride a merry-go-round in more supportive chairs and swing and slide on equipment using the latest playground technology.</p>
<p>The school board recently approved spending $2.6 million to completely replace the playgrounds at all of the elementary schools. All of the elementary schools will get two playgrounds, one for kindergarten to second grade students and one for older students.</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery
<p>When Center Grove administration redrew district lines in 2016, administrators promised parents that all elementary schools in the district offered the same amenities, assistant superintendent Bill Long said.</p>
<p>Schools had the same academic programs and curriculum, but school officials wanted to make sure that other building amenities matched and were equal across all of the elementary schools, he said.</p>
<p>And they wanted all elementary schools to have new playgrounds to match the newest school, Walnut Grove Elementary School, opening for the 2019-2020 school year.</p>
<p>“It does not matter if you go to the newest or oldest school, you will have opportunities no matter what school you go to,” Long said.</p>
<p>Part of that effort was making everything the same across in all of the schools, down to the table and chairs that are in each of the schools, he said.</p>
<p>“We are trying to make everything across the board the same,” he said.</p>
<p>The school district hired Sinclair Recreation to design each of the playgrounds. Playground designers met with safety inspectors and principals at each of the schools to glean what might work best for each school. The designers also used the school’s enrollment and what the schools needed to decide what equipment and amenities should go into each playground, Long said.</p>
<p>Each of the schools should have equal playgrounds based on their school’s enrollments and needs when the playgrounds open for students this summer, he said.</p>
<p>Part of the playground rebuild is also about making recess safer for students and to have equipment that special needs students can utilize, as well as making each of the elementary schools equal, Richard Arkanoff, superintendent said.</p>
<p>“Our vision is that no matter where you go, you will get an exceptional experience,” he said.</p>
<p>The playgrounds have larger, plastic chairs in merry-go-rounds that support students more and the rubber ground on the playground will help protect children who fall. The surface also has better drainage and will dry quicker, Long said.</p>
<p>“The surface is a huge thing for the kids,” he said.</p>
<p>Not only will the playgrounds be a respite for the school day during recess, some of the equipment can be used and built into some curriculum in physical education classes, Long said.</p>
<p>“You don’t have to teach kids how to play, that is for sure,” he said.</p>
