Schools
Keysor Elementary Kicks Off Project IDEA
On Friday, parents, teachers and community members will have a chance to learn more about the IDEA project at Keysor Elementary school. The school seeks to build a large, interactive, inclusive playground area for the students and the community.
Four years ago, parents and teachers at got together to talk about the need to improve the school’s playground. This Friday, after years of work, the project IDEA—a more than $400,000-outdoors, interactive playground—will be officially presented. The presentation will take place at 8:45 a.m. at Keysor Elementary's gymnasium. Anyone interested is invited to attend.
“When we first started this, the original purpose was to have a playground place that was more inclusive,” said Bryan Painter, principal of Keysor. “Where we landed now is so much better than we ever imagined.”
The project IDEA, which stands for “Imagination, Discovery, Exploration and Adventure,” will provide students and community members a natural, sustainable and inclusive outdoor space. To be built on the west side of Keysor elementary, project IDEA will have a soccer field, an amphitheater, a garden lab and a tunnel, among other features. The goal, Painter said, is to get students to learn in an outdoors environment where they can have fun.
“We want kids outside,” Painter said. “ I do think that, as some say, some kids have a nature-deficit disorder.”
Brandie Martine, project IDEA coordinator, said when the idea was first discussed the main goal was to make a playground that was more accessible to people with disabilities. Martine said parents got more and more involved until it became a state-of-the-art facility.
“We realized that we wanted people of all ages and ability levels to interact with it and be out there on their own,” Martine said. “This is very much about the community.”
Painter said the IDEA project will be built in two phases, which still require funding. He said he hopes the first construction phase can be finished by the summer. The total cost of the project will be around $429,000, Painter said.
“Without the pro-bono work our wonderful community has already done for us, our cost would have been up by $100,000 or more,” Painter said.
Painter said the project will only be able to be built if the funding comes through. He said he hopes this Friday’s event will create a buzz about it in the community. Martine said the idea was an ambitious one, but the Kirkwood community, parents and students will greatly benefit from it.
“To have a wonderful education you need support,” Martine said.