WELLINGTON NORTH — Upper Grand District School Board (UGDSB) trustee Robin Ross wants people to start thinking differently about playgrounds at schools — and to consider if they’re worth having at all.
“Playgrounds are actually very detrimental economically to our schools,” Ross, who represents north Wellington, told township council during a delegation last month.
“When you look at the cost of what’s involved of putting a playground [at] our schools, there’s a lot of other things we could do for our students with those funds,” Ross added.
The province, through the Ministry of Education, doesn’t provide any funding for playgrounds.
“The school board dedicates its use of capital funds on learning spaces and looks to school fundraising to support playground equipment,” UGDSB spokesperson Heather Loney explained of the long-standing practice in an email.
Loney also wrote that schools — through parent councils or other means — are responsible for “ongoing maintenance, repairs and upgrading of playground equipment or playscape elements.”
Fundraising can also be a painstaking slog against the odds, taking years before enough money has been raised to install what Ross called “very pretty metal posts cemented into the ground.”
Ross’ sentiment has proved controversial among some parent council members at Kenilworth and Arthur public schools.
For Crystal VanGerven and Jenn Vandepas, who are leading fundraising campaigns for new playgrounds at their respective schools, Ross’ comments feel like a personal slight.
“I’m blinded and attacked,” VanGerven said by phone recently, adding she feels Ross is working against her.
“We as a parent council were quite disappointed that she took such a position on the topic without, in her five years as trustee, ever coming to a meeting or talking with anyone involved in this amazing initiative.”
(Ross wrote in an email that she has never been invited to a parent council meeting, but would attend if invited.)
Though she agreed with Ross’ comments about the exorbitant cost of playgrounds, Vandepas criticized the trustee as having a “lack of understanding of rural schooling in general.”
During her delegation, Ross, whose son attends Palmerston Public School, suggested “looking at different options” for what donated dollars could be spent on.
She gave examples of skating lessons, more field trips, hiring crossing guards, outdoor education centres, gardens, musical instruments, service animals or a Grandpals program.
She also suggested Wellington North partner with the school board to address playground costs.
Ross acknowledged her admittedly unpopular position when responding to emailed questions from the Advertiser.
However, she emphasized her belief: the amount of money needed from the community to build and maintain playgrounds is too much when compared to how little they’re used.
Students generally have two nutrition and play breaks during the school day, and can access the equipment before school starts.
Although playgrounds are only supposed to be used during school hours, according to the board’s spokesperson, the rule isn’t enforced.
The parent council at Kenilworth Public School has been fundraising for at least three years and collected almost $30,000 of a $50,000 goal to pay for a basic playground with monkey bars, a few slides and a pole.
“We’re also a small school population, so we don’t need huge equipment either,” said Vandepas, who has twins in Grade 1 at the school.
She added a playground similar to what the 81 students now have would suffice.
The fundraising target, which the parent council aims to hit by 2025, is intentionally low, Vandepas said, “so that we wouldn’t have to sink every dollar into playground equipment.”
Some of Ross’ suggestions, she added, are activities for which the parent council already raises money.
“We are still trying to be mindful of providing other things to the kids,” Vandepas said.
In Arthur, the parent council is progressing toward a $400,000 fundraising goal to replace equipment removed last year.
VanGerven, who has children in Grades 2 and 3 at Arthur Public School, said she was motivated to start a fundraising campaign after playgrounds — one for junior kindergarten to Grade 3 students, and another for those in Grades 4 to 8 — were deemed unsafe during an annual inspection and removed.
The board is not required to make inspection reports public, and it’s not immediately clear why the equipment was deemed unsafe.
“Our kids had absolutely nothing to do while outside at recess,” VanGerven said.
“It didn’t sit well with me, and my kids deserve better than that, as do all the other children.”
VanGerven said around $250,000 has been raised since she took on the role of fundraising committee chair for the parent council last year.
The parent council hopes to have both structures installed by the end of next year.
“We have the support from our community to move forward, and they understand that this is very important for the children of our community, for their mental health and their well being,” VanGerven said.
She noted the parent council has also fundraised for a Gaga Ball Pit, sandboxes, bused field trips and ice time at the Arthur arena.
“Children can learn a lot from playground equipment … they’re learning body movement and stability and core strength,” VanGerven asserted.
“Our children’s mental health while at school is not an economic calculation.”
Wellington North council recently approved taxpayer-funded grants totalling $17,500 toward new playgrounds at both schools.
Victoria Cross Public School in Mount Forest also has playground equipment, but was not a recipient of the township grant.
Ross delegated to Wellington North council after being invited to speak, she said, and has also called on parent councils elsewhere to rethink playground spending.
“Just because I disagree doesn’t mean I am right, or that I am not supportive of what others want,” she wrote.
“I have simply asked people to consider what other options there might be.”
