Académie Lafayette is not only a charter school, a popular public school option in Kansas City, Missouri, but one specializing in French immersion. In 2012, due to a growing student population, the school expanded to two campuses. The new K-2 campus is located in the city’s urban core at 34th and Cherry; it provides a second chance for what was once a shuttered elementary school. But the playground at the Cherry Street campus is not finished.
At the time of the expansion, the Cherry Street location had been vacant for nearly two years and required an overhaul. Starting in April 2012, parents and staffers painted, scraped, and cleaned to ready the school for an August opening. Funds had been set aside for playground costs, but these were diverted to purchase and install a new HVAC system. This was something teachers had requested to provide a better environment for students learning a second language. It was much more costly than anticipated.
The playground was essentially a blank slate, an empty stretch of asphalt. Once completed, the playground will be an asset not only to the school, but also a community resource and gathering place for the surrounding neighborhood.
The playground design will provide obstacle course style activities, like climbing and monkey bars, to encourage gross motor development. It’s a one-of-a kind playground designed by an Académie Lafayette parent, who’s also the owner and principal designer of the Kansas City-based architecture and industrial design studio, KEM STUDIO.
Additionally, the playground will also include a track that can be used for running or wheeled toys like scooters, bicycles, or tricycles.
The playground will be available as a play area for neighborhood children after school, on weekends, and during school holidays.
A few vital elements are already in place, thanks to donated funds and materials, and lots of volunteer hours during an EXTREMELY hot summer.
Children at the Cherry Street campus are playing on a swing set, digging into a sand table, and scaling small and large climbing structures clad with composite decking material. There’s also a tire-walking activity surrounded by wood chips.
Primarily, we seek to complete phase one of our exterior grounds by providing play equipment and play areas that will aid gross motor developmental learning opportunities that combat health issues associated with physical inactivity.
This next phase of the playground, slated for completion by the end of the 2012 – 2013 school year, includes two key components:
This unique slide is designed to double as a playhouse. It’s one structure, with a slide on one side and a climbing wall on the other. But there’s a space, a nook in between, providing an opportunity for imaginary play – whether it’s a fortress protecting from an enemy attack, or a house where someone ‘cooks’ dinner and serves it.
Over the next few years, the vision for the playground includes returning all of the asphalt to green space, installing a water feature, and planting a community garden with a garden-to-kitchen concept.
In addition to your tax-deductible donation to help us complete this next phase of the playground project, you can also help us with:
Materials: We are seeking donations for playground equipment: soccer goals, basketball goals with rebound board, industrial paint for concrete, riding toys (scooters, balance bikes, and tricycles), and a locked storage area.
Slide……………………………………………………..$35,000 – $55,000
Monkey Bars……………………………………………$15,000 – 20,000
Outdoor classroom……………………………………..$6,000
Natural play area, grassy hills, shade trees…………$5,000
Tables……………………………………………………$2,000
Drop-Shot……………………………………………….$1,565
Tetherball………………………………………………..$615
If you’d like to donate materials, please contact playground committee co-chairs, Roxana Shaffe, rshaffe@gmail.com, or Courtney Wells, courtney.wells@hp.com.
If your business or employer would like to make a matching contribution, please contact Development Director, Shelly Doucet, sdoucet@academielafayette.org.
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We met the match! Thanks so much to the Board of the Hyde Park Neighborhood Association for their generous contribution – and to all of you for helping us meet the match.
A special thanks to Academie Lafayette 3rd grader, Libby Lueck, who also did some fundraising for the playground. Libby made apple butter with her grandfather, sold jars of it and donated the money. Thanks also to Libby’s parents who matched her contribution! Find out more about her efforts here.