Parents and Concord disability commission press school committee to fix Thoreau playground design over accessibility concerns

Parents of children who attend the Town of Concord's integrated preschool told the Commission on Disability on a recent night that the planned Thoreau School playscape is not accessible to wheelchair users and will recreate segregation at recess.

The parents — Justine Martinelli and Laura (last name not provided), both parents of children with physical disabilities — told commission members the current design relies heavily on wood chips and play structures that lack ramps or accessible approaches, and that their requests for a seat on the design committee were not honored.

"My son is a wheelchair user," Justine Martinelli said during public comment, describing meetings with the playground committee and school staff she said have not produced substantive design changes. "It was not an inclusive design."

Why it matters: the playscape is on school property and therefore must meet state and federal accessibility requirements; parents and commission members warned the town, not the parents, would be liable if the finished product violates accessibility law. Commissioners and accessibility experts at the meeting distinguished meeting the letter of ADA regulations from designing a genuinely inclusive play environment, and urged the school committee and the playground committee to address both legal compliance and inclusive design.

Parents and commission members described three core problems: an inaccessible surfacing choice (loose wood chips rather than a stable rubberized surface), play equipment lacking ramped approaches or integrated access, and a fundraising request that effectively asked parents to cover the cost of a fully accessible rubber surface. Commissioners said they were told the committee would accept a rubberized surface only if parents raised roughly $165,000 within a short fundraising window.

Jennifer Brooke, a commission member and landscape architect who said her office designs accessible play spaces, told the meeting there are two separate standards at play: legal accessibility required by ADA and state regulations, and broader inclusive design that provides comparable play experiences. "If it is not accessible, we all, as citizens of Concord, should go to the AAB," Brooke said, referring to the state's Architectural Access Board.

Commission chair Jean Goldsberry said the commission will take immediate steps to press the issue. She said she will request time on the school committee agenda and encouraged parents to share written concerns and documents with commission staff.

Next steps agreed at the meeting included: the commission chair will seek placement on the March 25 school committee agenda; commission members with design expertise will try to attend the playground committee's Friday meetings; and the commission will consider writing to local funders and the newspaper if the school committee or playground organizers do not respond. Several commissioners volunteered to join parents at upcoming meetings to provide technical and legal perspective.

Commissioners urged a phased approach: first, verify whether the plan meets ADA and state accessibility standards; second, identify practical changes that would raise accessibility and inclusivity; third, press the school committee and playground organizers to implement those changes before purchases and installation proceed.

The commission did not vote on a formal action at the meeting but directed staff to arrange the school-committee appearance and to coordinate attendance at the playground committee meeting. The commission scheduled further discussion for its April meeting and said it would share correspondence with parents to avoid emails between members that could violate open-meeting rules.

The parents and several commissioners also pointed to successful local examples of inclusive surfacing and design — including Concord's Ripley Playscape and nearby Sudbury projects — as possible models for a revised plan.