As the rest of the Austin Public Schools District prepares for the new school year, Banfield Elementary School students will have something new to swing on.

During the last few days, Banfield Elementary has seen construction crews assembling and erecting a new playground on the school’s grounds. Featuring new play areas and activities like a slide painted in cheery and bright colors, students will be able to take play and recess to new heights.

Banfield started the process about a year ago, according to Banfield Elementary Principal Jeff Roland, when the playground equipment was approaching the end of its days.

“My best estimate for the playground was that it was about 27 years old, and that’s the youngest I’d guess,” Roland said. “It was going into disrepair, and custodians would make daily trips out to fix and repair it. Some parts shut down until it could be repaired. It just got to be a nuisance over time and it wore out.”

Last year, a committee made of parents, staff and Roland, started reviewing vendors, equipment options, expenses and establishing a timeline. By April 2018, the committee made a choice and decided to move ahead with the playground project, which was estimated to be around $131,000 and included the demolition and removal of the old apparatus.

Taking the model after Southgate, which also had to replace their own playground several years ago, Banfield was able to come up with fundraising ideas in order to secure enough funds for the project, while also taking into account some of the specifics such as cost and design.

“The size of the playground definitely kept the cost down, and the size will fit entirely where the old one was,” Roland said. “We don’t have to dig up blacktop or expand out to the sidewalk. While working with the company, we were very mindful of that.”

School budgets don’t allow for the purchase of a new playground, so Banfield Elementary School needed to fundraise and solicit donations in order to meet the cost of the project.

“I worked as an administrator in three school districts, and it’s true in all three,” Roland said. “There was never money set aside for that. There are not school funds set aside in an annual budget for a playground.”

Although the elementary school was able to pay the initial payment of the equipment, which has arrived and was fully constructed, there still needs to be funds raised in order to pay off the remaining balance that the school owes to the vendor.

“We have raised more than $41,000, and so we’re looking at about $80,000 to $89,000 to go,” Roland said. “We raised that in about half a year, and so I’m very optimistic. The response to the news that got out about it has been really positive. We’re hoping the momentum keeps up.”

There were also other funding avenues established to help offset the cost of the project. The Hormel Foods Corporation Charitable Trust also included the playground to be eligible for matching contributions. Any donation of $25 or more by a Hormel employee or retiree is eligible for the matching contribution.

Another way for the public to donate is to stop by Banfield Elementary School or mail a contribution with checks made out to Banfield Playground. For donations of $100 or more, the names of contributors would be included on a dedication sign that would be adjacent to the new playground.

While there is no deadline by which Banfield needs to pay off the remaining balance, Roland hopes “the sooner, the better.” There is also zero percent interest attached to the project, and so the school would not have accumulated cost from the purchase. What may appear to be a high expense, Roland said, will be an investment for future students to enjoy years down the road.

“When put into the context of the number of years a new playground will last and the number of children it will serve over time, the figure becomes manageable,” he said. “It sounds like a lot of money, but it’s a generational purchase. Kids leave Banfield, go out into the world, and when the time comes when they bring their own kids here that the playground will still be here. We’re looking to have a 25 to 30 year life expectancy on it. I’m very optimistic that we’ll get this done, and the great news is that kids will have a place to play on.”