Einstein Elementary community jumps into fundraising effort for new playground

Whenever a new elementary school is built, there are a few things that typically come with it.

From classrooms and a library, to a main office and gymnasium, these are the staples that come with most schools.

Another one is the playground.

At Albert Einstein Elementary School in Redmond, things were no different. When the school was built in 1998, the current playground was installed. But now, almost 20 years later, that playground is in need of being replaced.

This need has been growing over the years, said Christy Keating, who has a second-grader at the school. Keating sits on the board of directors for the school’s PTSA and is also the co-chair for the school’s playground committee, along with Julie Lemery.

Keating said at the time it was installed, playgrounds were made of wood and metal, which “doesn’t weather very well in the Pacific Northwest.”

The wood is deteriorating and falling apart, she said, adding that throughout the play area, rotting wooden boards have been marked for repair or removal. And in one case, she said, a wooden bridge that had connected two pieces of playground equipment was removed completely because it had rotted so badly. In addition, metal pieces are starting to rust and screws are coming loose.

While the removal and replacement of parts and pieces should be simple, Keating said the obstacle they have been facing at Einstein has been the fact that their equipment is now obsolete and the manufacturer no longer makes the parts they need.

“As things wear out, we’re unable to replace them,” she said.

With increasing complaints from students, teachers and parents alike, a committee was formed last spring — with Keating and Lemery co-chairing — to work on replacing the playground.

And out of that committee has come an effort to raise money to pay for a new playground. The new equipment would replace the main play area. Keating said there is a smaller playground that students call the “Big Cheese” that was installed about five years ago. This area is geared toward younger students and has not been played on as much.

“That one’s still fine,” Keating said.

Kathryn Reith, director of communications for Lake Washington School District (LWSD), said the district provides a standard playground equipment setup when a school is built and when that equipment reaches the end of its life, the district is responsible to replace it with whatever the current standard is, if it has changed since the school was built.

Currently, Reith said, the district is looking into the situation at Einstein to see if the playground equipment at the school has reached the end of its life and if the district will need to replace the equipment.

“We’ll make sure we do the right thing,” she said.

Reith said if the district does have to replace the playground, the money being raised by the Einstein PTSA can go toward additional equipment.

“PTSAs can raise money to provide additional playground equipment, in what is called a ‘sponsored project,’” she said.

The fundraising at Einstein began in mid-October with a number of different components to the campaign.

Keating said they have been doing direct solicitations and just asking for people to donate. A website has been created at einsteinplayground.net and people can donate through PayPal. The students are also getting involved in the effort as a fundraising competition among the different grades has started this week. Keating said she also hosted an event at her house, partnering with the company Stella &Dot to sell jewelry, with a portion of the proceeds going to the playground campaign.

In addition, she said on Jan. 7, 2017, Palmer’s East (7853 Leary Way N.E.) will host a fundraising night, with a $10 suggested donation and $1 from each drink purchased going toward the Einstein playground. They are also planning a spaghetti feed to bring in more money, Keating said.

Donors can also drop off checks at the school at 18025 N.E. 116th St. Checks can be made out to Einstein PTSA, with “playground” written on the memo line.

As of this week, a total of about $32,000 has been raised.

The total cost of the new playground is $65,000 and the Einstein PTSA can contribute up to $20,000, so the minimum they would need to raise is $45,000. However, Keating said, this would be taking away money they could be using toward other programming and needs at the school.

Keating also noted that Einstein is a Title I school, meaning it receives money from the federal government because it has a high percentage of students from low-income families. She said about 40 percent of their students are on free or reduced lunch. This makes it extra challenging when asking families to contribute to the fundraising effort.

The timeline for the campaign is to complete fundraising by the end of January 2017. Keating said this is so they can put in the purchase order to the vendor — who was approved by the district — by February. This would make it in time for a spring break installation for the new playground.

Keating said they want to have the playground installed by the time students come back from spring break because there are families with fifth-graders who have contributed to the effort and they want those students to be able to play on the new equipment before they move on to middle school.