Elem. school playground closes due to violations

SPOTSWOOD - The E.R. Appleby School playground was shut down recently after officials learned that it violated state safety standards.

The playground at the Vliet Street school, which houses the borough's second- through fifth-grade students, was inspected recently under a new state mandate. Violations that came up during the inspection were not worth correcting, so the equipment was taken down entirely, according to Board of Education member Donna Faulkenberry.

Borough Councilman Thomas Barlow said during a meeting last week that some students had to be taken to the hospital after receiving splinters while using the equipment. Councilwoman Marge Drozd said it wasn't the wood per se, but the fact that it hadn't been properly treated and sanded.

Faulkenberry said the height of the decks, the material of the slide and the spacing of equipment were listed among the violations. Also, the swing set was too close to the other equipment.

"There were so many issues and it didn't make sense to just try and fix it," she said.

The playground was built in a community effort about 15 years ago, she noted.

"A lot of rules have been revised since this was put in," Falkenberry said.

Borough Council President Curtis Stollen said the fact that wood was used turned out to the downfall of the playground.

"There was a big community effort to build it, but now it's gone," he said.

Business Administrator Ronald Fasanello said borough officials want to upgrade the town's parks, and the borough engineer has completed a proposal for grant funding to rehabilitate Mundy Avenue Park. That proposal was presented to the mayor and council last week, and officials then decided to add the playground at Appleby into the grant application.

Faulkenberry said the borough has ordered some new playground equipment for Appleby, and noted that everyone wants to get the area up and running "as soon as possible."

It was the only playground at the school, she said.

The playground is eligible for county funding because it is a public playground, not one just used by the school, Falkenberry said.

Currently, the students at Appleby are restricted to playing sports during recess, she said.

The state had given towns a deadline of October to have inspections performed on playgrounds, and Spotswood's were completed in August.