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Thoreau Elementary plans inclusive playground; school seeks commission review before construction
Summary
Thoreau Elementary principal presented a community-driven inclusive playground design that has raised nearly $400,000 and aims to rubberize 80% of the surface to improve wheelchair access; the school will share final plans with the Concord Commission on Disability before ordering equipment.
Thoreau Elementary School officials told the Concord Commission on Disability they plan to build an inclusive playground this summer and will share final designs with the commission before construction.
Justin Sparks, principal at Thoreau Elementary, described a master campus plan developed with consultant CHA and community input. He said a $200,000 estate gift launched the project and that community fundraising has brought the project’s total to just under $400,000. The design team and vendor Ultaplay are proposing nature-inspired, universally accessible equipment and a surface that will be approximately 80% rubberized to improve mobility-device access.
“We wanted this to be inclusive,” Justin Sparks said, describing design elements added after feedback from parents, staff and students, including accessible swings, spinner elements with wheelchair access, communication boards and musical elements such as large percussion features. Sparks said the school enrolls about 400 students and operates two specialized special-education programs; the bridge program for students with autism includes about 22 students.
Sparks said the project team has iterated designs repeatedly to improve accessibility and is planning a community-build model with Ultaplay. He told the commission the team hopes to break ground this summer and open the playground in the fall, and that the designer will present final plans to the school committee on April 30 before ordering equipment.
Commission members requested the design team include depictions of children using mobility devices at different stations to show how users in wheelchairs would access equipment. The commission also asked that the team share plans with the commission as soon as drawings are available so volunteer commissioners with sidewalk and public-way expertise can review them. Sparks agreed to provide the commission the “flyover” animation and to return to the commission’s May 8 meeting with completed plans or an update.
There was no formal vote. The commission offered to review final drawings before construction and to attend a planned ribbon-cutting ceremony once the playground opens.
