We have a current student who uses a wheelchair which forced us to take a look at our playground and its accessibility and inclusivity. After evaluating the playground, we discovered that it is not accessible to students with motor, coordination, balance or motor planning issues. We want to fix that! With the addition of our Building Blocks 3K program, we now have even more preschool children who cannot play on the structure as it is deemed for children 5 and older.

We looked at adding separate pieces that would increase the inclusivity of the playground as well as installing a separate preschool structure. To make the playground more accessible, we would like to include poured-in place ground surfacing. Once this surfacing is in place, you cannot change any of the structures. We discovered our structure is nearing the end of its life and it doesn’t make sense to add to it and put in poured-in place surfacing only to rip it out again in a few years time. Renovating the playground also allows us to include more pieces that are ADA and preschool friendly which will last for decades.

We are working with Burke out of Fond du Lac who makes the equipment and Lee Recreation out of Madison who is doing the design. The two companies work together and the Wisconsin connection is an added bonus! We are also lucky that a member of our Parkview Community works for Burke. Jody Becker has been an integral part in securing donated pieces of equipment as well as discounts on pieces that we would not find anywhere else. He is dedicated to making the playground fun and inclusive!! Burke also has a young boy with CP who uses a wheelchair give them ideas and test out their equipment. Many of the items featured on our playground come from his suggestions!!

We hope so, but that depends on how much we raise. We do not get a discount on the poured-in place and it is expensive to put in. The nice thing is, we can continue to fundraise for additional poured-in place surfacing after the structure goes in and add to areas we aren’t able to afford with this cycle of fundraising. We intend to put in as much as possible in areas that make the playground safe and inclusive.

We have decided to go with a blue and gray color scheme to be friendly neighbors and to enhance the culture of our Parkview Bullpups! We are getting some items donated through the company we are using so those pieces may be more colorful!

The footprint of the playground will remain the same. All of these features will be included in the area we currently have. P.E. class and green space will not be impacted.

We are working to procure some grant money to include more shady areas around the playground. We also have included shade within the structure itself as we know it gets hot on the playground!!

We have many ADA accessible features in this playground! We have included links below to learn more about each of these special items:

ADAAG Entrance Ramp with Guard Rails

360 Loop Slide with 72” deck height

Car Accessible Reach Panel

Innova Rocker

MOVMNT Inclusive

Playhouse with Tunnel

Play Ensemble

Serenity Spot

The new playground features a dedicated preschool structure for ages 2-5. Many of the elements around the edge of the playground are preschool friendly like the Playhouse, Play Ensemble, and more!

Yes! We have sent out over 300 letters to local businesses for sponsorship opportunities and have received many donations. These business donations will go on a giant chair on the playground. We will also be featured in the News Graphic so that other community members can learn about the project and get involved if they would like!

We are lucky enough to have a thriving and robust group of dads as members of our Dad’s Club. They were the first group to have an interest in increasing the accessibility and inclusivity of the playground. The Dad’s Club has some great ideas to continue the fundraising effort, specifically to increase the amount of poured-in place ground cover. The Dad’s Club supports many initiatives at Parkview, the playground being one of them. Any extra funds in their budget from this year will be going towards the playground renovation project.

We are not including any lighting on the playground as it is not something we want children on during the nighttime hours. Lighting by the Community Room and Parking Lot are not in the scope of this project.

Our current structure has some life left, especially if it is not being used by hundreds of children every day. We are looking into donating the structure or selling it off. Otherwise, it will just be scrapped during demolition. Structures last about 20-25 years and it is estimated that ours is about 20 years old. We have gotten a great return on that investment!

We are currently in the midst of our Luau Fun Run!! For questions about that event, please click here.

We also have an opportunity through School Store to get a proceed of your total when you do your regular shopping at select stores. You can set up an account or shop through this link. Information can be found here.

We will be offering another way for families to make their mark on the playground. We are working with the district and will get information out to you as soon as we are able!! Stay tuned!!

Many employers offer matches for donations (i.e., Baird, Thrivent) so be sure to double check!

If you own or work for a company that did not receive a letter from us, please reach out to Rachel Rizzo (rachel.rizzo4@gmail.com) and she will send one out!!

To have the playground installed in summer so that our Bullpups can enjoy it Fall of 2024, we need to order the structure components in April. It takes three weeks from start to finish for installation and we cannot have that mess for that long during the school year. As to the rush, we would love for our inspirational student to be able to enjoy the playground as a Bullpup and next year is her last here at Parkview. If we don’t make it by April 1st, we will continue to fundraise and install summer of 2025.

This structure is only temporarily installed and purchased by the District as part of the 3-year-old Building Blocks program. It was ordered before our planning began and was on backorder all last year.  Once our new playground is complete, this structure will be moved to Thorson, as we will have a dedicated preschool area in our new playground.