California community makes its playground accessible to all children

From Santa Maria Times in California:

Blochman School District invited everyone to play Sept. 15 when it opened its universal access playground at Benjamin Foxen Community Park — even those who can’t run or jump.

Students, parents, local officials and many members of the tight-knit Sisquoc community gathered at the park Friday morning for its official opening. The park, located behind Foxen Elementary School, allows wheelchair access to many of its play structures, filling a desperate need for the school’s students and Sisquoc-area children.

“This means everything,” said Candace Hergenrother, special day class teacher for Santa Barbara County. “This is our 15th year out here. Until now our kids couldn’t play here. The only other possibility was to have another student roll them around (in wheelchairs) out on the blacktop.”

Hergenrother teaches nine students at Foxen Elementary, seven of whom need a wheelchair. The new playground provides wheelchair access to many of its new elements. A double-wide ramp allows wheelchair-bound children to reach the main section of the play structures. Another ramp leads to the base of a slide and climbing structure. A third leads to an adaptive swing.

All children need to play for the good of their physical and mental development, Hergenrother said. Many of her students can’t verbally express themselves, but their excitement with the new playground was understandable.

“The students who were begging the most are the ones who may not have the words to tell us,” Kristin Garrison-Lima, school district superintendent, told the large crowd gathered for the ceremony. “They sat on the sidelines, confined to a wheelchair watching others play. An able-bodied child can throw a football, kick a soccer ball, play tag,” she added. “But a child in a wheelchair may be limited to only what they can touch.”

Garrison-Lima, along with Blochman PTA President Dayna Hammell, made sure those students had plenty to touch. The pair spearheaded a research and fundraising effort that resulted in a $120,000 playground and park.

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“The idea was to create a completely universal-access playground so that a child in a wheelchair could access the playground,” Garrison-Lima explained.

While Blochman has just over 100 students, all of whom stampeded to the playground after fourth-grader Grace LaMarca and Santa Barbara County Supervisor Joe Centeno cut the ribbon, many finally had their first access to the playground.

Centeno, State Assemblyman and Blochman parent Abel Maldonado, Tim Bennett, president of the board of trustees at Hancock College, and many representatives of the Santa Maria and Orcutt school districts were among those in the crowd.

The project was more than a year in the making and took a lot of research, Garrison-Lima said.

The playground features a couple of elements from the old school playground, and some of the older equipment also was recycled for the kindergarten playground.

Many of the new play elements are accessible to children in wheelchairs.

“We took kids to playgrounds and asked them what they wanted,” she explained. “I had a vision and it’s come true.”

The playground utilizes Gametime equipment. Ramps and platforms covered with rubber surfacing allows wheelchair-bound children to access the elements. The swing also is universally accessible. A musical instruments element comes with a school curriculum. Steve Strachan of Central Coast Playgrounds, who installed the equipment, even built a picnic table that can be used by all.

“A lot more than I planned,” Strachan said of the project. “It’s is a good design. The whole playground is a good design.”

The fundraising effort was almost as large as the construction. The school district was able to access $53,000 in Quimby Act funds, money derived from land development, with the help of Centeno. The district also scratched together $15,000 from the Santa Barbara County Office of Education, $5,000 from Presquile Winery through the Murphy Foundation, $1,500 from the Foxen Canyon Wine Trail and $1,000 from Pacific Petroleum.

A Blochman PTA fundraiser was held at the Ontiveros Adobe, at the Bien Nacido Vineyards, organized by Hammell. The “Night in The Vineyard,” featuring cuisine from Chef Rick’s, netted a whopping $20,000.

CalPortland Construction provided 360 tons of sand for the project.

In addition to Strachan’s work, local parents supplied a lot of elbow grease on many Family Work Days.

But after all of the donors were thanked, backs were slapped and hands shaken, a Blochman student summed up the event best.

“This is wonderful,” shrieked second-grader Laela Rodriguez.