New school playground equipment will be colorful, eye-catching addition

    Young students at Chase County Schools are getting to watch the installation of their new playground equipment this week.
    Students returned Wednesday after a four-day break from classes to see that the new equipment was finally going up, after being delivered a couple of months ago.
    Last week, most of the old equipment on the west playground was removed, and now, workers with Dostals Construction of Gretna are taking advantage of the 70-degree weather to complete the installation.
    It will be a colorful addition with a lot of climbing options and other fun equipment.
    The equipment purchase from Burke Playground of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin was approved in February by the CCS board at a cost of $275,387.
    It includes a pair of above-ground play areas connected with a walkway. The connected play structures will have three tunnel slides descending from them and multiple climbing options.
    A smaller play structure with a wide slide and more climbing apparatus will sit nearby, along with several spinners, a universal swing, a Rope Venture Vertex and more.
    The equipment will be eye-catching in colors of lime green, purple, blue, aqua, yellow, red and orange.
    A newer set of swings on the playground will remain, according to the meeting discussion in February.
    While not the low bid (two others were submitted), Supt. Adam Lambert in February said Burke’s proposal was  recommended by the board’s building and grounds committee, a teacher playground committee and him.  
    “It had more of the options that we were looking for—fun factor, safety, colors and a good mixture of play options for all age groups,” he said at the February meeting.
    The equipment from Burke Playground is also American made, which played a role in its selection, according to Lambert’s earlier comments.
    Lambert said they had high hopes of having someone repurpose the old equipment elsewhere, but it was too difficult to save in the removal process.
    “We kept the slides and rock wall and may offer that out to the public through a bidding process at a later date,” he said.