Claire Alvarez, principal at Garfield Elementary School, showcases two slides that are part of new playground equipment the school received this week from the National Association of Elementary School Principals and Landscape Structures, a playground equipment manufacturer.
The school, celebrating its 100-year anniversary this calendar year, had K-8 principals assist in building an inclusive playground on Monday through a Measure K bond. About 30 principals assisted in the project, according to Claire Alvarez, principal at Garfield.
NAESP and Landscape Structures are corporate partners, and they both team up every year to select schools and donate equipment.
Garfield Elementary was one of the “lucky recipients,” said Alvarez, who added that the school was selected mainly because of its staff’s efforts to fundraise for equipment already. She got connected with the two companies, and the school was identified as a donee right away.
Chris Dozier with the Long Beach Unified School District uses a forklift to maneuver a “buddy bench” for a new playground at Garfield Elementary School.
The playground equipment itself costs around $30,000, according to Alvarez. The principals spent 3 1/2 hours Monday morning completing the structure.
She jokingly mentioned how she mainly served as a cheerleader for the crew.
As part of the NAESP Conference in Long Beach this week, around 30 principals assisted in building new playground equipment at Garfield Elementary School Monday morning. It took three and a half hours to build.
As a result, the playground structure was not drilled and installed into the ground, but instead “surface mounted,” simply planted onto the surface, in order to accommodate the asphalt project at a later date.
When drilled and placed, the playground will have “a couple of pieces unique to it” that Alvarez hopes will encourage social activity for children.
Among the slides and climbing scales available for children were pieces of equipment dubbed “buddy benches,” which serve as a place to go to when they have nobody to play with or have nothing to do. They can go to the bench and have somebody else to interact with to keep them company.
“It gives kids a tool when they either feel lonely or you just don’t know what to play with,” Alvarez said. “If you want to make a new friend, you go to the buddy bench.”
The “success” program at Garfield Elementary, a special day class for children with autism, will utilize the buddy benches as a tool to teach kids to play along with others in the autism program, as well.
Alvarez mentioned that with the centennial celebration of the school arriving in the fall, the remodeling of the school and the playground could not have come at a better time.
