By Jeff Roland

Banfield Elementary principal

I want to take this opportunity to update the community of the status of the new playground at Banfield.

The playground serves more than just the students attending Banfield. It is used after school, evenings, weekends and all summer long by kids and families. It is a meeting place where kids can have a fun and safe place to play with their peers. The old playground was at least 25 years old with replacement materials either cost prohibitive or not available due to the age of the structure. Our rationale was that our students and the neighborhood deserves to have a facility that was not substandard. We started to raise capital and get the information out to the community during the 2017-18 school year.

As we moved into August, the first step of the project took place. This was to demolish and remove the current structure and surface material. That was done on August 9 and 10. Once demolished and removed, the next phase of the project was initiated.

The new playground was shipped to Banfield. It was unloaded, unpacked, inventorie and inspected. In addition, the cement anchors were poured that secure the structure. When this phase was completed, it triggered the installation phase of the project. All this was completed by the first day of school. Due to the heavy rainfall this September, we have experienced some drainage issues. The vendor and school district have devised a plan to better drain the water from beneath the walking surface.

Although this is wonderful news for our students, it still remains that we have to continue to fundraise to pay off the balance. It might be easiest to think of it similarly to having a mortgage on your house. We live in it, use it every day, but we don’t completely own it outright. It is easy to see a brand new playground on site and forget about the “mortgage” on it. We were fortunate that we were able to take advantage of the vendor’s 0 percent interest rate for one year. This allowed us to have it installed by Sept. 4.

So I am asking you to keep spreading the word about our funding need. If you wish to donate, checks can be made out to Austin Public Schools with a “Banfield playground” notation on the memo line and can be dropped off or mailed to the school. In addition to donating at school, our Banfield Parent Teacher Committee has initiated a fundraising site on the BPTC Facebook page.

I am extremely happy that our students started the first day of the new school year with a new playground. Talk of getting a new playground was an extremely exciting topic of discussion by students last spring and all summer long. The playground has always been the focal point during recess. It still is part of being a kid in elementary school. I know that if we continue the fundraising momentum, we can raise the funds needed and “burn the mortgage” by the end of the school year. Thank you for your continued support of Banfield and all schools in the Austin School District.