Fernan Elementary Playground for All costs increase
<p>Left to right, Zach Johnson, Gage Henson and Eddie Garner sign thank-you cards for the donors of their Playground for All project. The kids got excited when they heard groundbreaking on the project might happen next week.</p>
<p>Fernan STEM Academy teacher Pam Kiefer stands with some of her students that spearheaded the Playground for All project. From left to right, Daisy Birmingham, Pam Kiefer, Eddie Garner, Brandon Eaton, Zach Johnson and Gage Henson.</p>
Fernan STEM Academy’s playground is about to get a major facelift. This summer, a second playground will be constructed so everyone can play on it.
The new playground will feature a wheelchair-accessible pathway that accommodates two wheelchairs and pull-out areas along the pathway housing activities such as marimba instruments, a wheelchair swing and a weather station.
The masterminds behind the idea and the design: Pam Kiefer’s fifth-grade class last year. This past spring, the fifth-grade ELA class visited with special needs students enrolled in the school’s Life Skills program.
The project came to
fruition when one of the Life Skills teachers told the fifth-graders about how their new buddies couldn’t play on the playground. Kiefer’s class jumped into action to solve the problem. Thus, Playground for All was born.
The class worked with Jon Mueller, the senior landscape architect at Architects West, to develop designs and cost models to build a playground that will provide opportunities for every student at the school to interact with each other.
Over the summer, Chris Shelton, a senior project manager at Young Construction and Rick Rasmussen, CEO at Northwest Specialty Hospital, stepped up to the plate and have been reaching out to community companies for support.
“I don’t ask people to give us their time or materials for free; the way I approach it is I ask them ‘how can you help,’” Shelton said. “Most people have said they can do it for a very reduced cost or for free.”
“I gave up some of this [project] to them because they’re the professionals,” Kiefer said. “I have total trust in these guys and they are doing awesome.”
The project goal has expanded its original cost projections from $50,000 to $75,000.
“It’s been pointed out to us that it’s pretty easy, and for not much more money, for people pouring concrete to go over here and pour an additional pad,” Kiefer said. “It’s turned out a bit bigger of a project than we planned.”
However, Kiefer said, the community has been amazing and very supportive.
More than $30,000 has been donated in cash, mostly from community members, and about $30,000 has been donated in materials and time. The team estimates it needs another $12,000 worth of materials and labor to get everything it needs.
So far, playground equipment has been ordered and many constructions, design, concrete and landscaping companies, to list a few, have promised materials and volunteer hours for free or very low cost.
Right now, the design plans are going through a permitting process with the city of Coeur d’Alene. The few structures must meet international building codes and the pathway must be at a certain angle to meet ADA regulations.
The project still needs a framing crew and people to form and pour the concrete foundations and slabs. Other than that, everything is in place and the team is expecting to start construction next Thursday, July 28.
“We’re going to try to get it done by Sept. 6, the first day of school,” Kiefer told The Press. “Once we get the ball rolling, I think it’s going to go pretty quickly.”
Anyone wishing to donate money can write checks made out to Fernan STEM Academy PTA with the memo “Playground for All.” Checks can be sent to Fernan Elementary School at 520 N. 21st St., Coeur d’Alene, ID 83814.
Donors thus far:
• Young Construction Group of Idaho, Hayden, and Architects West Inc., Coeur d’Alene — donated time free of charge
• Land Surveyors Inc., Coeur d’Alene — donated time to survey the path
• ACI Northwest Inc., Dalton Gardens — donated time and equipment to excavate the path
• Zwinger Excavating, Inc., Hayden — offered to haul off the spoils at no cost.
• Coeur d’Alene Paving Inc., Coeur d’Alene — donated paving for a reduced cost
• Roots Landscape Company, Hayden — offered free irrigation line repair if the construction accidentally hits a line
• Gibbs Lumber, Hayden — donated framing materials “at a substantially reduced cost”
• Granite Enterprises Roofing, Rathdrum — donated roofing installation at no cost
• Interstate Concrete and Asphalt, Coeur d’Alene — donated concrete at a substantial reduction to the cost
• Tri States Rebar Inc., Spokane Valley — donated rebar at cost