By Sarah Hall
Editor
The kids at Van Buren Elementary School will come back in the fall to a new playground — and you can help build it.
VBE’s Parent-Teacher Association is looking for volunteers to help with the community build from Thursday, July 12, to Sunday, July 15. Most of the construction will take place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, with the final touches being done from 9 a.m. to noon on Sunday.
PTA Co-President Jackie Smith said the existing playground, whose structures range in age from 25 to 30 years old, said VBE’s playground will be the first in the district to be replaced through the community build option.
“We’re the first of the three playgrounds in Baldwinsville [to be replaced],” said Smith, whose daughter is a rising fourth-grader at VBE (she also has a rising seventh-grader). “About $35,000 will be saved by doing a community build.”
She said the other playgrounds in the district are aging and will likely be replaced, as well, thanks in part to legislative grants from 129th District Assemblyman Bill Magnarelli (D-Syracuse) and 50th District State Senator John DeFrancisco (R-DeWitt) in the amounts of $125,000 and $55,000, respectively. According to the Baldwinsville school district, the playgrounds will be replaced over the course of the next three years with each school receiving the same basic equipment; the school PTAs have the option to fundraise for additional equipment if they choose. The remaining funding — about $75,000 to $80,000 per playground — is budgeted in the district’s 2017-18 and 2018-19 General Fund.
“It is nearly impossible for a PTA to raise this kind of money,” said Assistant Superintendent for Management Jamie Rodems.
Smith agreed.
“We started to fundraise, but it would take forever for us to raise that large a sum of money,” she said. “It’s great that [the district is] helping us out.”
With the district’s funding, the oldest playgrounds — Van Buren, Reynolds and Palmer — will be replaced this summer, all with volunteer labor.
Van Buren’s build will require about 80 volunteers. Experts from the company that makes the playground equipment will be on hand to direct the volunteers, as well as representatives from Arrow Fence and J & M Landscaping. All are welcome, and babysitters will be available on site. People are needed to sort parts, dig holes, make snacks, distribute food, register volunteers, babysit and, of course, build the playground. Donations of food and water will also be accepted.
To sign up, visit goo.gl/forms/j8hCKmm3WFvFL3l23. Questions can be directed to Heather Budzich ([email protected]) Molly Scuderi ([email protected]) or Jackie Smith ([email protected]).
Even if you don’t sign up, you’re still welcome to come help.
“We’re going to have a registration table there that people can still come and volunteer, even if they forgot to register on line,” Smith said. “We still want you to volunteer.”
