A parent-led initiative to see a playground installed at Crossfield’s W.G. Murdoch School is a third of the way to raising the funds required for the project.
“The playground is being installed because W. G. Murdoch is a Grade 6 to 12 school and there is no existing playground for the younger ages attending the school,” said Larry Paul, associate superintendent of Business and Operations.
The project is estimated to cost $150,000 to $160,000, he said. To date, Friends of W.G. Murdoch – the school’s fundraising arm – has around $55,000 in the bank, according to chairperson Tracey Oldale, through a combination of grants, fundraisers and donations.
During a regular meeting March 10, Rocky View County (RVC) council unanimously granted a request by the school division to draw $15,000 of cash-in-lieu funds for the project. Per the 1998 Reserves Agreement between the municipality and the school division, RVC holds and maintains a joint cash-in-lieu reserve fund, with a maximum total of $15,000 allowed.
Of the 376 students that attend the school, 35 reside in the County.
Oldale said the fundraising society is currently waiting to hear back about grant applications to make up the remaining two-thirds of the total. While that difference is large, she added she’s hopeful grant funding or donations from the community will come through.
Paul described the future structure as “a standard adventure playground” with different components for sliding, climbing and stepping. Usually, he said, RVS budgets don’t support playground installations at schools, so parent-led initiatives like the one in Crossfield have become common throughout the division.
Oldale said the playground fills two gaps in the community. For students in the school’s younger grades, it will provide a place to play.
“Kids in Grade 6 and 7 still want to be kids,” she said. “In this day and age, when our kids are all growing up too fast and you walk through the schools and everyone’s on a cell phone and everyone’s busy doing their own darn thing, we need to also encourage them just to be kids and play.”
Paul said, in RVS, middle schools tend to have some type of outdoor equipment for students, and with K-9 schools becoming more common, more schools have an adventure playground.
“The value of these types of structures is it gives that adventure play – the ability for the kids to experience different textures and shapes and sizes while they play,” he said.
The playground will also fill a gap in the community for an accessible play structure, Oldale added.
“Crossfield does not have a visual-, physically- or developmentally-accessible playground anywhere in the community,” she said.
As the parent of what she describes as a medically-complex child, Oldale said the accessibility component of the project was highly important to her. The playground is specifically designed with this in mind, including strategically-placed colours to help those with visual challenges and different heights for those with mobility challenges.
Paul noted the structure will be available to the wider public, and children will be able to use the playground for recreation after school hours and on weekends.
Oldale said installation is scheduled for September 1, but to accommodate that timeline, all funds must be in place by June 1.
Anyone interested in supporting the project or learning more can email [email protected]
Ben Sherick, AirdrieToday.com
Follow me on Twitter @BenSherick
