Letter: Why Isn't Safe, Accessible Play Funded Within the Education System?
A co-chair of the Alexandra Community School Playground Committee aims to raise awareness and challenge the status quo that expects school communities to raise capital for accessible play.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
To the Editor,
Most people assume school playgrounds are funded by public dollars. They are not.
That realization has been one of the most surprising and frankly, concerning parts of serving as Co-Chair of the Alexandra Community School Playground Committee.
Our committee is working toward replacing Alexandra’s aging playground with an accessible playground that better meets the needs of all children, including many students who would benefit from inclusive and accessible play features.
As we began this journey, we asked what many would consider a simple question: Where does the funding come from?
What we learned was eye-opening.
We have received documentation confirming there is no direct funding available for this project from the school board, the province, or the county. Instead, playground projects like ours rely almost entirely on fundraising, donations, grants, service clubs, local businesses, volunteers, and community generosity.
In other words, communities are expected to fund spaces that many families understandably assume are publicly supported.
Over the past three years, our committee has raised nearly $30,000 toward a project expected to cost approximately $100,000. We are deeply grateful for every donation, every volunteer, and every supporter who has helped us get this far.
But gratitude and determination do not erase the larger issue.
Why are school communities responsible for raising six figures to provide something as fundamental as safe, inclusive play?
Why does accessibility depend so heavily on a school community’s ability to fundraise?
And what happens to schools in communities without the capacity, resources, or volunteer base to raise that kind of money?
This is bigger than Alexandra.
This is about equity.
An accessible playground is not a luxury. It is an investment in inclusion, belonging, physical health, social development, and childhood itself. Every child deserves the opportunity to play, connect, and feel included, regardless of ability.
This summer, Alexandra’s playground committee will launch a Why Accessibility Matters awareness campaign, followed by additional fundraising efforts in the fall, including an online auction.
We will continue doing the work because our children deserve it.
But we also believe this issue deserves broader public discussion. Perhaps it is time to ask whether essential spaces for children should depend so heavily on bake sales, raffles, donations, and volunteer exhaustion.
Every child deserves a place to play, not just the children whose communities can afford to build one.
Sam Kennedy
Co-Chair, Alexandra Community School Playground Committee
Letters to the Editor do not necessarily reflect the opinions or beliefs of The Owen Sound Current and its editor or publisher.
This is a very fair question. Along a similar vein, I have been thinking about how hospitals, and now I’m starting to hear schools, are also not fully funded by the province (despite that being our expectation) and the community (via charitable foundations) are expected to fundraise for hard costs like equipment, beds, and in the school example, desks. Our local service clubs and nonprofits basically spend all their time fundraising. It’s wonderful they exist and I don’t know where we’d be without them - certainly our communities would not be the same. There is an element of the public being engaged and it could be argued this is one way that ensures this, but it is frustrating. Our taxes are an investment in our communities. They come back to us through these kinds of services and infrastructure. The total investment is far greater though if we consider every raffle ticket, charity BBQ and donation we make.
If you do raise enough for the playground, make sure you get full authorization from the school board on the design and installation. Otherwise, they can take it out if they deem it "unsafe". And these days, it's easy for many things to be deemed unsafe.