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Parent volunteers of the Springfield Township School District have been fundraising for the last year so students who attend the new Erdenheim Elementary School in September will have a nice, new playground.
But with just a few months left to raise funds before the summer, the parent volunteers of the playground committee are feeling an urgency in their situation.
They have collected a little more than $45,000 of the projected $130,000 cost of the playground they want, and they have approached the school board for a $50,000 contribution to the fund.
“This is a bunch of parents that are going out and fundraising for a large sum of money,” Nancy McDonald, chairwoman of the playground committee and member of the Erdenheim PTO, said Monday. “I think the board understood the urgency.”
A pledge from the school district would “re-energize the parent base to fill the gap,” she added.
At its meeting Tuesday, the school board decided to hold a special interim property committee meeting to determine how much the district could contribute and where the money would come from.
Members would make a recommendation to the rest of the board for a vote at its meeting Feb. 16.
“We’re very supportive, and we want to be able to help them as much as we can,” Gail Inderwies, chairwoman of the property committee, said after the meeting.
The approximate costs of the project are $95,000 for equipment and $35,000 for installation, according to the playground committee’s projections.
What they need now is for the school to commit to an amount so volunteers can plan how they will close the gap, McDonald said.
McDonald and Erdenheim Principal Christine Bradley presented their designs for a second- through fifth-grade playground at the meeting.
The design, a collaborative concept of parents and teachers, includes slides, climbing apparatus and swings. One of the swings is meant for students with special needs, and physical and occupational therapists can use it with students throughout the day, they said.
The plan also includes fitness stations, such as a balance beam and parallel bars.
The committee is working with PlayWorld Systems, a Pennsylvania company that uses only recycled Pennsylvania steel and does not use polyvinyl chloride, McDonald told the board.
The district has received a bid of a little more than $35,600 for the complete installation, more than 20 percent less than the market price, district Facilities Director Roy Johnson said.
This proposal was “a very pleasant surprise,” he told the board.
If the district commits to funds later this month, it would give a much-needed boost to the fundraising efforts, which have felt the brunt of a down economy, McDonald said.
When the fundraising began, the parents were told that the funds the district used to finance construction work were ineligible for noncurricular projects, she said.
Due to some miscommunication, the parents understood they had to fund the entire playground, McDonald said, adding she is not blaming anyone.
A playground committee within the Erdenheim PTO mobilized, and parents talked to grant agencies and professional fundraisers in hopes of securing donations from the community and businesses large and small.
But there were two main problems.
Research showed that grants would be difficult to receive because the township does not fit the more underprivileged demographic typically preferred of applicants, McDonald said.
The other problem was the down economy, which made businesses freeze their donations.
The $45,000 raised so far is from the community, mostly from the same groups of people, she said.
Another hurdle was the changes that came from the district restructuring, as changes needed to be made to accommodate the new group at Erdenheim, she said. This was when the cost of the project rose to about $130,000.
The committee is happy with the change, it just wasn’t in the original plan, McDonald said.
The collaboration of Erdenheim and Enfield parents has benefited the project, she said.
“There’s lots of new energy around it by having a whole new community to work with,” she said.
The parents recently held a movie night at Erdenheim that brought in $2,000 for the fund.
The public property committee meeting to discuss playground funding will take place Feb. 12 at 8:30 a.m. in the administration building.
