The Sulphur Springs Union School District celebrated the opening of its newest playground, an inclusive space at Canyon Springs Community School on Vicci Street.
After thanking the staff, teachers and administrators who made the playground possible, SSUSD governing board President Denis DeFigueiredo shared conversations with what he felt were the most important constituents for this project: his grandkids.
“And I always ask my grandkids a couple of questions,” he said, referring to what they learned and their favorite part of the day, “every single time, with great enthusiasm, the answer always comes back: recess.”
There is a lot to be learned from play, including teamwork and how to get along, he added, which is why these environments were being created at all the schools in the district.
“This is more a philosophy, and regardless of the dollars and where they have to come from. This is something that we’ve been committed to for about the last 10 years or so, is to build these playgrounds,” DeFigueiredo said. “Because having the community to be able to come together — and when I say community, I mean our children, our school community — come together in a meaningful way without anything stopping anybody from participating, it’s just super, super important.”
The cost of the equipment and the installation from Sun Country Playgrounds Inc. came to $289,063, according to the purchase agreement.
Superintendent Catherine Kawaguchi referred a question about the cost of the playground and the funding source for the equipment to a news release on the playground that did not contain that information. She did not respond to a followup phone inquiry seeking clarification.
