City and school board work together to upgrade playgrounds at two schools
THE CITY AND THE PUBLIC school board are partnering for the first time to refurbish school playgrounds at two lower city schools.
Coun. Matthew Green is ponying up $300,000 from his area-rating cash — $150,000 per school — for the renovations at Adelaide Hoodless and Memorial City elementary schools, both of which are in his ward.
“Having an active, public space for kids is such a priority,” Green said at an announcement on Thursday.
“We want to get kids outside — we want them out of their basements and into the community.”
The Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board is matching Green’s contributions for interior work at Adelaide Hoodless, and both interior and exterior refurbishments at Memorial City.
Upgrades at Memorial City could include a renovated basketball court with seating, repaved asphalt, added lighting, an outdoor classroom, more bike racks and additional trees and plants.
At Adelaide Hoodless, renovations will include upgraded basketball
courts, more trees and plants as well as added lighting.
The work is expected to be finished by September 2018.
When entering into a partnership like this, both parties sign an agreement setting out that the properties will generally be used by the school during the day and open to the community in the evening and on weekends.
Board chair Todd White called the relationship between the HWDSB and the city a “breath of fresh air.”
“We’re really on the cusp of city/ board partnerships,” he said, noting both institutions get more bang for their buck by combining resources.
The goal is to enter into other partnerships similar to this to revamp playgrounds, White added.
“To think of it only as school property or city property is shortsighted,” he said.
While the partnership on outdoor play space is new, the city and the public board are working together on other projects, including building a community hub on the site of Sir John A. Macdonald Secondary School.
In the past, the city and the public school board attempted small partnerships, like at Memorial City where the back green space is board property but the circular section of the playground where the play structure stands is city land, Green said.
But a “renewed relationship” is allowing the two to work together on bigger projects, he added.
“We’re able to partner up in these substantial ways to recognize and respect the fact that there’s one taxpayer and there’s one neighbourhood,” he said.
Green said he has been in talks with the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board about the possibility of a comparable partnership.
In the city’s west end, something similar has already happened.
Canadian Martyrs Catholic Elementary School received $205,000 through the Ward 1 participatory budget initiative in 2016 to build a natural play space that is open to the public after the school day is done, said principal Peter Messina.
The Catholic board did not contribute funding to this project, spokesperson Marnie Jadon confirmed.