June 13, 2018
Page 9
Mississippi
Alberta
North Portland
Vancouver
East County
Beaverton
photo by d anny p eterson /t he p ortland o bserver
James John Elementary School Principal Samantha Regaisis (left) and Parent volunteer Noelle Guest band together with other community members to raise funds for a
new playground at their north Portland school. The old playground was deemed dangerous by the school district and torn down last year, but the district won’t pay for a
replacement, so they started a GoFundMe page.
Recess
on the
Line
Community rallies to rebuild playground
by d anny p eterson
t he p ortland o bserver
Community members have created a
GoFundMe page to help build a new play-
ground at James John Elementary in north
Portland because the district won’t pay for
a new one, organizers said.
Unsafe equipment was removed from
the school by the district last year, but Port-
land Public Schools doesn’t have funds
allocated specifically to rebuilding play-
grounds, the school’s principal Samantha
Ragaisis told the Portland Observer.
Located in the heart of the St. Johns
neighborhood and serving a population in
which 94 percent of its families are low
income, the school needs at least $55,000
to refurbish the now mostly barren play-
ground on the corner of North Kellogg
Street and Leavitt Avenue.
Thanks in part to parent volunteer No-
elle Guest’s fundraising organizing, the
school has received a generous grant from
Nike and donations from the school’s Par-
ent Teacher Association, which combined
got them $35,000. Last month they started
a GoFundMe page to raise the remaining
$20,000. They’re now less than $10,000
away from that goal.
That $55,000 price tag would double
in cost with a more wheelchair-accessible
plan.
“If we added the best choice for ADA ac-
cessibility, and fall impact, and low main-
tenance and durability, it would add about
another $50,000 to that number,” Guest
said, acknowledging with a laugh that un-
less, “Manna from heaven, an angel from
above drops 50K on us, and that would be
so splendid....we expect that we’ll be going
with the 55K version.”
The school has a second playground, but
accommodating its 370 students with the
only one play area that has equipment has
caused problems with crowding.
“We can’t accommodate all those chil-
dren,” the principal said. “It’s not safe. And
it’s a matter of being safe for our students
and for parents to know, when their chil-
dren go outside, that there’s room for them
to play and be active without bumping and
hitting and knocking each other down.”
As a former PE and health teacher, and
coach, Ragaisis knows how important it is
to give children physical activity in order
for their brains to function at peak perfor-
mance.
Teachers have reported that students
who end up at the playground without
equipment have more pent up energy, frus-
tration, discipline problems and competi-
tion. Instead of engaging in healthy play,
they end up running around in circles or
throwing bark chips at each other, Ragaisis
said.
The school has until the end of the
month to collect all the funds they’ll use
C ontinued on p age 14