It Takes a Village... #SAVMP

   The old adage, "It takes a village to raise a child," is often used in education.  We take this perspective, as it exemplifies how the school community works together to do what is best for children.  Recently, I have witnessed this adage in full display, as our school district worked with local businesses, churches, parents, community members, and high school students to renovate our elementary school play ground.

   This project began over 10 years ago, with a very passionate PTO.  They wanted desperately for their children to have a new playground.  At that time, district administrators encouraged the PTO to begin raising funds to see the project come to fruition.  However, 10 years later, the project was still in the fundraising stage. 

   Last summer, the PTO made a substantial donation to the school district in the amount of $10,000 to be used to purchase a new elementary playground, complete with an ADA transfer location, various climbing options, slides, and the ability to serve all students in PreK-5th grade.  This donation, along with district capitol outlay dollars, purchased a wonderful state-of-the-art playground for our students.  However, the generosity didn't stop there.  In a three week span, local businesses and patrons donated money, concrete, excavating, labor, machinery, and food to see a "Community Build Day" happen for our students.  On Saturday, October 26, nearly 40 parents, staff, community members and high school students gathered at the elementary school to build this new playground.

   

   People from all walks of life, various levels of income, board members, district administrators, parents, grandparents, and most importantly students gathered for over 16 hours to install this amazing playground.  While it was awesome to see the community come together, it was seeing the high school students, who came back to work on their elementary school, that was most powerful.  These high school students will never play on this equipment. However, the pride they have in their community and school allowed them to build a playground for students 10 years younger.  They are part of this nurturing "village."  This one day in time will last in my memory for a lifetime.