“It’s been over 30 years since the playground has been renovated,” said Julie Clayton, who is a member of the playground expansion committee. “At last year’s track and field day, I noticed a young student in a wheelchair who couldn’t participate. I was told that she could only have the opportunity to throw a ball back and forth — and that was it. I have a soft spot for children with disabilities.”

Clayton’s children — one in fifth grade and the other, sixth — had asked their mother if they could take a basketball to school.

“I told my kids that the school should have playground equipment there,” said Clayton, who lives in rural Auburn. “When I was at the playground, I found all the elementary’s basketballs bald, and most could not hold air. It was in bad shape for all students.”

With a change in Sac County administrative guard in 2023, Clayton saw a chance to change not only the playground for better play, but also for the better behavior of the kids.

-Submitted photo
From left, Dallas Pullen, MiKayla Pape, and Lisa Gullet helped to paint four-square, hopscotch, and tic-tac-toe grids for elementary students to use last summer. Here, they are working on a hopscotch game.

“Our test scores were not good, and our behaviors were awful,” said Clayton. “I think half the behavior issues stemmed from the playground environment. The students had nothing to do, so they’d fight, and they’d take the fight into the classroom.”

Clayton asked for permission to write grants for new equipment. Her original proposal was for $47,000 for new balls and other equipment that would engage all students. She found that students were eager for improvements that didn’t cost a lot of money, but rather time from volunteers.

“The students told me that at the old school in Wall Lake, they had four-square and hopscotch, which they loved,” said Clayton.

Fourth-grade teacher Dallas Pullen, art teacher Lynne Wilson, and teaching assistant Lisa Gullet joined Clayton during the heat of the summer to paint four-square, hopscotch, and tic-tac-toe grids. Marie and Mike Buse, parents of children in the district, also helped by refurbishing some old soccer goals and delivered them to the playground for the children to use.

In addition, the Sac Community Recreation Center hosted a ball drive to quickly improve the fundamental pieces of the playground’s success.

“We wanted every kind of ball: kickballs, footballs, soccer balls, any kind of ball,” said Clayton. “The elementary ended up with 50 balls just from this drive. The kids were just ecstatic that they could play four square and have balls that could hold air.”

With good movement toward solving the problem, Clayton used that energy to begin writing grants with district-provided information on demographics.

“Between grants and donations, we received right at $100,000,” said Clayton. “Superintendent Hemiller said that the best decision would be to replace the entire playground and start over. An estimate to renovate the playground, so it would be all-inclusive, came to $475,000. We went from $47,000 for new equipment to a $475,000 playground that would make a real difference for our district’s students.”

Funding is coming from a combination of school resources allocated to the project, donations from private individuals, companies, and grants. There is also a local company offering in-kind labor for dirt work prep to help keep project costs within budget. This playground is designed for children aged 5 to 12.

Cunningham Recreation, of Ankeny, is the playground equipment supplier working on the project. Equipment will include a telescope, zip track with zip seat, wrinkle wall, swings with zero G seats, swings with seat belts, a seesaw, an inclusive whirl, a tire swing, a set of soccer goals, and a football game made of poly by Lundell Plastics of Odebolt and EVAPCO of Lake View.

Clayton owns Lake View Family Chiropractic, and her husband Darren and she have two daughters who currently attend ESC Elementary.

“I have enjoyed all the relationships built during this project and realized there are so many people who want to help find a solution leading to what’s best for our students,” said Clayton. “The positive feedback from the administration, teachers, school personnel, community members and children have made this project amazing.”

The playground project timeline includes delivery of the equipment in May, with the site preparation planned for June. In August, the new inclusive playground is scheduled to be ready for students to use at the beginning of the school year with a final completion date set for September.