GRANTHAM — When Dorothy Sears started third grade at Grantham Village School six years ago, she was disappointed by the elementary school’s playground.
“After a certain age group, nobody really used it,” said Sears, now a freshman at Lebanon High School. “It’s not usable for over half the year, and if it was too icy you couldn’t even sled, so you were just kind of out there sitting in the cold, which is not fun.”
That set off a yearslong process in which Sears made presentations in front of the town’s Selectboard and then the School Board. A committee, called the Grantham Village School Renovation and Playground Committee, comprising parents, town residents and school officials, formed to study upgrading the school’s grounds and playground equipment. It then made recommendations for improvement.
At this year’s school meeting, voters will be asked to approve a $700,000 bond, to be paid over 10 years, to upgrade the grounds and playground at the school. A hearing about the bond will be held at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in the school’s gym and via Zoom. Additional details about the project can be found at gvshawks.org.
The playground proposal would increase property taxes by 3 cents per $1,000 of valuation. Also on the warrant, a collective bargaining agreement with staff would add 24 cents per $1,000. But both the union deal and the playground costs would be more than canceled out by a 31-cent drop in the tax rate contained in the school’s operating budget.
“If absolutely everything passes, if every article passes, taxes will go down 4 cents per thousand,” SAU 75 Superintendent Sydney Leggett said in a phone interview.
This will be the second time in two years Grantham voters will be asked to approve a bond for the playground project. A roughly $500,000 bond fell just short of the 60% of voters needed to pass it, Leggett said. Voters told Leggett that they wanted to see full plans for the project, instead of cost estimates based on similar proposals. After the vote failed, the district consulted an engineering firm to draw up plans, with input from students, parents and community members, which Leggett thinks will assuage concerns about the $200,000 increase.
“Everybody has a clear picture of exactly what all the money is going for,” Leggett said. “I think that makes a big difference.”
Even though that is a $200,000 increase, bond rates are at 2% which helps with the long-term costs.
“It’s a wonderful time to try to take out a bond financially,” Leggett said.
The committee has also done fundraising to offset the project’s costs — close to $50,000 over three years, Leggett said. Some proceeds went toward hiring a landscape design and engineering firm SE Group, based in Burlington, to draft plans to put before voters. Additionally, Grantham-based Yankee Barn Homes has donated 75% of the costs of a planned pavilion.
At least 50% of the $700,000 bond would go toward fixing up the grounds and other site work, particularly drainage issues that have plagued the school for years, Leggett said. The lack of drainage causes ice to form, particularly under the playground equipment, which is at least 15 years old.
“When the ground freezes underneath it, we have to shut it down,” Leggett said in a phone interview. “If kids were to fall, it’s the equivalent of falling on a hard floor.”
Included in the natural landscaping will be building a hill to both increase drainage and provide another place for children to play.
“A big part of the project is also that we currently don’t have enough ADA access for kids with disabilities. so this proposal includes ADA access to all the features of the proposed playgrounds, including a walkway so kids can get to every part of the playground which is definitely something we need,” Leggett said, referring to the Americans with Disabilities Act.
While the project started before COVID-19, the pandemic emphasized the need for more outdoor spaces. Teachers began spending more time outside with classes, something they plan on keeping up even once the pandemic subsides. The renovations will also allow for separate outdoor spaces, so recess, physical education classes and other teaching activities can take place at the same time.
“Right now, there’s a little competition for space,” said Jerry Volpe, a member of the committee and the father of a 9-year-old son who attends Grantham Village School. “With the new design there’s some more distinct separate spaces.”
When the committee started its work, it also looked at facilities at the town’s recreation park and Eastman to make sure what they proposed complemented what Grantham already has. The proposal calls for more objects that kids can climb on and basket swings that can hold more than one student, among other features. There’s also space that forms a natural amphitheater where kids can play and educators can teach.
“It’s not just throwing down some extra mulch and putting up another swing set,” Volpe said. “Everyone has things they hopefully will be able to play on and play with.”
SE Group, which was hired to put together the designs, spoke to students about what they’d like the playground to have, which is something Sears is really excited about.
“That just makes me so happy because we’re actually going to make the people that this matters to happy,” said Sears, whose mother, Mary Ann Sears, served on the committee. “It matters most to kids because they’re using it.”
Liz Sauchelli can be reached at esauchelli@vnews.com or 603-727-3221.
