Pine Tree dedicates playground

MONROE — Three classes of Pine Tree Elementary students had the good fortune of having bonus recess time on Oct. 4 when they showed state Sen. William J. Larkin Jr. the features of the school’s new playground.

There’s no way they’d turn down that opportunity.

The kids ran around the play area, using slides, balance beams and swings to show him and invited guests just how much fun they could have on the colorful equipment.

“It’s awesome because of all the new stuff you can do,” said fourth-grader Colin McHugh as he zoomed past his classmates.

That’s exactly what school officials were hopeful the kids would realize when officials held a reception to honor Larkin for his efforts in securing a $33,333 grant to supplement the fund-raising efforts of the Pine Tree PTA and parents to build a new playground.

The playground was officially dedicated in Larkin’s name at that gathering.

Five years in the making

The idea for a new playground started five years ago and came from the then-fifth- grade students who spoke to Principal Bryan Guidice about how they didn’t like playing in the school’s lower play area because “there wasn’t anything to do.”

“That started a movement to build a new playground,” Guidice told students and guests at the reception. “I can’t think of a better gift than a playground. What a perfect gift for our 50th anniversary.”

Last year, Pine Tree held its first “Pine Tree Trot,” where over $1,000 was raised by families to support the new playground effort. The PTA held other fund raisers where monies were earmarked for the project as well, eventually having $6,000 set aside.

But with Monroe-Woodbury facing budget challenges like other districts statewide, officials told the school there was no money available for a project of this type.

However, Guidice said, Assistant Superintendent for Business Jeffrey White recalled Pine Tree’s request when Larkin told the district about grant funds available for school-based projects that were not able to be completed due to the “current financial crisis our state finds itself in.”

White asked Karen Brock, the school’s former assistant principal who now heads Sapphire Elementary, to complete paperwork for the 2011-12 Education Funding Grant that had become available to school districts in Larkin’s senatorial district.

This past June, Pine Tree was informed it had been granted the $33,333 to match the $6,000 raised by the PTA to buy the $40,000 playground equipment. It was installed by the district’s Buildings and Grounds and Maintenance Department in about a month’s time.

‘So much to do’

“It has so many things you’re able to do,” fifth-grader Alyssa Kamara said as she jumped onto a swing.

Larkin - who was named an honorary Monroe-Woodbury Crusader at the reception - spoke to students about the importance of play time in a busy academic world.

“There’s time when you need to play,” said Larkin. “You have to have memories. This wasn’t my idea; it was the ideas of your administrators and teachers. They came to me to ask for help. This is the part of the school’s fulfillment to you.”

Outside, Larkin and district officials tested out the swing equipment by pushing some students on the swings.

Students later switched and pushed the adults, perhaps in an effort to give them a lesson in the correct technique.

“I like how there is a lot of new equipment,” fourth-grader Ashley Magen after she showed Guidice the right way to use the swings. “There’s so much to do.”

- Nancy Kriz