LEBANON — The Hanover Street School Parent Teacher Organization has launched a fundraising campaign to raise $150,000 to replace an aging playground structure at the Lebanon elementary school.
“I just feel like our kids spend so much time on that playground and it’s one of the highlights of their day,” PTO president Katie Moulton said during a Wednesday evening video interview with other members of the Playground Fundraising Committee, which has around eight active members.
When Moulton’s first- and fourth-graders come home from the K-4 school, they’re eager to tell her about what activities they did on the playground during recess.
“You want them to have the best possible structure,” Moulton said. “You want all the kids to have the best possible structure that they can have to really enjoy recess.”
Hanover Street School has two main playground structures, principal Leah Wheelan said. The one that needs to be replaced is around 35 years old. The structure, primarily made of steel with a plastic coating, has exceeded its roughly 30-year lifespan. Parts of it have started to rust, including platforms, which tend to get the most wear and tear.
“When things break on it we can’t get parts,” Wheelan said in a phone interview.
Staff are able to patch cracks in plastic slides and make other repairs to keep it safe for students to continue to use: “Facilities has done a great job of trying to cobble it together.”
The new structure must be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, Wheelan said. Playgrounds built after March 15, 2012, must meet the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design issued by the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division Disability Rights Section. Playground surfaces must be “firm, stable, and slip-resistant,” to be able to accommodate those who use mobility devices, including wheelchairs, Wheelan wrote in a follow-up email.
“We could do this using ramps or a rubberized smooth surface,” she wrote.
PTO committee member Laila Volle, who is also a member of the Lebanon School Board, noted that the school’s roughly 320 students use the structure multiple times a day, around 175 days every year.
“It’s not just our students,” said Volle, who has a first-grader at Hanover Street School, as well as four-year-old twins who regularly use the playground. “This is a very valuable community resource.”
The playground is fenced in, which tends to be a draw for community members because they do not have to worry about their children having easy access to the road, the PTO members and Wheelan said.
Originally, the district budgeted $100,000 in its 2026-2027 fiscal year to fund the playground’s replacement. The Jack and Dorothy Byrne Foundation also said it would provide up to $50,000 in matching funds, bringing the total to $150,000. The roughly $100,000 ended up being part of the $1.43 million school officials cut from the school operating budget to lower the projected tax rate increase to 4.5%, instead of the 7.11% increase they originally proposed. Voters passed the $59.13 million operating budget during Town Meeting voting in March.
The PTO is trying to raise the $100,000 to put toward the playground. It has until the end of June to raise the $50,000 in matching funds from the Jack and Dorothy Byrne Foundation.
“It was a quick turnaround but it seemed like an opportunity we’d have to at least try for,” said Moulton, who has a first- and fourth-grader at Hanover Street School. “It’s too good to just pass up.”
The PTO has launched a GoFundMe to raise $50,000 for matching funds and hopes to reach the full $150,000 by June 30, so school officials can replace the playground structure during the 2027 fiscal year. Additionally, committee members have been reaching out to area businesses and organizations to see if they’d like to contribute to the project.
“In a normal year … our PTO raises about $3,000,” Moulton said. “So this is a huge undertaking for us.”
As of Friday morning, the group had raised $6,100 through GoFundMe.
“Winter, spring, summer, fall … it’s in constant use,” said Jessica Saturley-Hall, whose twin first-graders have played on the playground since they were quite young. “I think the idea that we can contribute to that for the next three decades or so is pretty special.
Visit bit.ly/hssplayground to contribute to the PTO’s GoFundMe campaign. For more information, email Moulton at hanoverstreetschoolpto@gmail.com. The organization will also post updates on its Facebook page at facebook.com/HanoverStreetSchoolPTO.
