ARTICLE TOOLS

E-mail story

Comments

Printer friendly version

iPod friendly version

Share This

Text Size: A A A A

Pennies help pay for Orchard Knob's new playgrounds

By: Clint Cooper
(Contact)

Included in this article

Danielle Clark

When Orchard Knob Elementary School students go to their new school building in August, they’ll have two new playgrounds to go along with it — some of the cost paid in pennies.

The playgrounds — one for students in prekindergarten through second grade and one for students in grades third through fifth — will be paid with $150,000 in money from city and county sources, businesses, community organizations, churches and individuals.

Students and parents collected $1,000 worth of pennies — and other coins — throughout the 2007-08 school year to swell the amount.

“A variety of donors have come forward to accomplish this goal,” said Orchard Knob Principal Marthel Young.

Hamilton County Schools spokeswoman Danielle Clark said the $125 million bond issue approved in 2006 for the construction of five new schools — the largest in Hamilton County government history — pays for the physical structures and furniture to go in them. Items such as playgrounds, stadiums, science equipment and computers are not included in the cost, she said.

Two years ago, a reserve fund allocated a combined $4 million to all new schools, rebuilt schools and schools with new additions, based on square footage and other funding formulas, Ms. Clark said. Money from that fund could be used for such things as playgrounds, she said, but most schools used it for technology and other needs.

“The principal had the discretion to use it as they wanted,” she said.

If grading and landscaping at the new Orchard Knob Elementary are completed on schedule, Ms. Young said, the playgrounds will be erected in August. The old Orchard Knob building, which fronted Third Street, is being torn down.

Both new playgrounds will contain swings, slides, climbing walls and benches, Ms. Young said. The playground for older students also will have an obstacle course, she said.

The previous Orchard Knob playground did not have either climbing walls or an obstacle course.

Ms. Young said the new playground will be more of a park setting than the previous area, and she envisions community activities there on some evenings and weekends.

Pilgrim Congregational Church is one of the churches that has been collecting pennies and other coins for the playground effort. Margha Davis, a Signal Mountain resident who is coordinating the effort for the church, said it is a shame the school has had to struggle to get a playground.

“It’s a big need,” she said.

Mrs. Davis said the old school was long in disrepair.

“They have been struggling for years,” she said. “It’s crazy (to have had to) run in the way that school’s set up.”

Orchard Knob students have significant needs themselves, Mrs. Davis said. As a Christmas project, Pilgrim Congregation Church purchased winter clothing for some of the students, she said.

“They wanted that more than school supplies and more than books for the library,” she said.

Comments