Saratoga News

Photograph by Tim Kao

Flora Chang, 4, tries out the slide at the new playground at Foothill School.

Community celebrates new school playground

Some wonder if city should have helped foot the bill

By Tim Persyn

Young children energetically flooded the expansive backyard at Foothill Elementary School on June 5, eagerly surrounding the new playground equipment that they had helped pay for.

Students, staff, parents and community members had gathered at Foothill that morning to celebrate their just-installed, state-of-the-art playground. The new equipment is a welcome change from the rotted, nail-studded equipment that the Foothill community organized to replace this year.

Parents smiled in relief, kids smiled in anticipation, and folks in the neighborhoods surrounding Foothill might soon smile when they learn that the new equipment is accessible to the community on weekends and after school.

The tens of thousands of dollars needed to replace the old equipment was raised by the PTA, the school district, community organizations, students and individual parents.

But now that the new playground is here, some people in the school district wonder why the city gave no financial support to replacing the unsafe equipment, although the new playground will be accessible to all Saratoga residents.

Meanwhile, city officials, struggling with a tight budget that has many priorities, say they are unaware of any formal requests made for funding.

However, letters from the past two Foothill PTA presidents ask that the city consider spending money on the project.

In the past, the city has acknowledged the community value of Foothill's playground. A letter written in 1976 by Robert Breyer, then Saratoga's city manager, recognized that the school grounds are used for recreation by surrounding neighborhoods.

He wrote, "The city was originally planning to purchase additional property in order to obtain a park of appropriate size to meet the needs of area residents...but with the availability of school property for public use, it will be unnecessary for the city to spend tax dollars for additional property."

At the playground dedication ceremony, Stephanie Weidert, the Foothill PTA president this past year, commented on how the school's grounds will continue to be used by neighborhood residents.

"The benefactors are the students and the children and families from throughout the community who wish to recreate in a beautiful location and feel good that their children are using safe, durable, physically challenging equipment," Weidert said.

But the city has its justifications for not helping to fund the new equipment.

City Manager Harry Peacock said he does not recall anyone formally requesting the city to fund the replacement of the playground.

In addition, city officials say that the Foothill school grounds are not under city jurisdiction.

Peacock points out that the city does enter into partnerships with the school district, but only to expand city services and facilities.

For instance, the city spent $26,000 on a new floor and $10,000 on a new playground at Redwood Middle School. The city paid this money because it would get something in return.

"We (the city) needed to use the facilities at Redwood for the adult sports league," said Peacock.

Based on what he knows, he said, he does not see the replacement of the playground at Foothill as an expansion of city services or facilities.

While adults may dispute whether the city should have shared responsibility for replacing the equipment at Foothill, the kids just seem happy to have some safe, fun equipment on which to play. Following the dedication ceremony, Foothill fourth-graders Monica Lempert and Marianne Koch took out time from their playing to talk about the new and improved structures.

They described the playground, which includes a fitness cluster, swings, slides, and the popular "zip-line," which lets children grab hold of a handle attached to a 15-foot beam above their heads and "zip" across.

"I like it," each said simultaneously of the new play area.

One of them explained, "This is better. There's no nails sticking out. It's all plastic; the other was all wood. You can't hurt yourself."