Littleton Independent: LPS awarded $1 Million in Federal funding for accessible playground updates

At recess, before school, after school, even on the weekends, Littleton Public Schools’ (LPS) playgrounds are filled with life, children swing, play and make new friends. For some kids, accessibility needs can make parts of playgrounds just out of reach. However, LPS is working to change that — with a little help from federal funding. 

This year, LPS received $1 million in one-time federal funding, with help from Representative Jason Crow. The funding will be used to make the district’s elementary school playgrounds more accessible, ensuring all students get a chance to play. 

Crow’s office originally reached out to the district, asking them if there were any projects that LPS needed funding for. The project needed to be facility-related, but had to benefit the broader community as well. LPS had long-term plans to increase accessibility on their playgrounds, so they saw the chance to get started on that project, since playgrounds are used by the broader community after school and on weekends. 

Crow’s office helped LPS request the funding through the Community Project Funding process, and the funding was included in the Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Bill recently signed into law. While LPS initially requested $1.5 million in funding, they received $1 million, slightly limiting the scope of their projects. However, they’re hoping to increase accessibility on as many LPS elementary school playgrounds as possible. 

“We would not be able to do this in Littleton Public Schools without this funding,” said LPS Chief Financial Officer Jonathan Levesque. “It was on our long-term plan, so we just moved it up on our timeline as the funding came available, but in the short term, it was outside of our funding threshold.”

The district got support from the City of Littleton as well, which wrote a letter of support for the project that helped them secure the funding. 

The funding will be used to add poured-in-place rubber surfacing around playground equipment. The poured-in-place surface will replace the engineered wood fiber surface around playground equipment that can make areas inaccessible. 

“(Pour-in-place) is a rubberized product that has some cushion to it, but it meets all the ADA requirements for a wheelchair,” said LPS Chief Operations Officer Brad Leitner. “If we've got a swing set that has a swing that will accommodate a wheelchair, you remove the wood chips, and you pour this path to that piece of equipment. It's creating a path from the asphalt surface to the playground equipment, through the wood fibers, or in some cases gravel.” 

The new surface will increase accessibility for anyone with mobility aids, but will also be safer for all children playing there. With wood chips under a swing set or other piece of playground equipment, Leitner says children often kick or dig them away, leaving less of a cushion if someone were to fall. With the rubberized surface, however, it cannot be moved, meaning there will always be a cushion should kids fall off the swings. However, since the main intent of the project is to increase accessibility, the surface won’t necessarily cover all fall zones in a playground; some may still have wood chips next to the accessible pathway.

“It’s phenomenal,” Leitner said of the poured-in-place surface. “It's the way of the future; it is a phenomenal product.”

While LPS doesn’t have a set timeline yet for the project, they’ve submitted an application for a second round of funding for the project to help improve playground equipment and possibly add an accessible bathroom. The district applied for $800,000 for their second round of funding. Throughout the whole process, LPS says Crow’s office has been a huge help

“Jason Crow's office has been amazing,” Levesque said. “His staff have been super supportive, especially going out for the second round as well. They helped us kind of craft our thought process and were really helpful.”

With $1 million in funding already, and possibly more on the way, Levesque is looking forward to making playgrounds more accessible for all. 

“The biggest thing is getting our facilities up to a level of allowing our community and students to really fully interact with the equipment,” Levesque said.

Leitner is looking forward to making the playground experience open to all, regardless of accessibility needs. 

“We can have a path that goes to a swing where a kid in a wheelchair can swing right next to their friend, that they sit next to in class,” Leitner said. “We're trying to break down those barriers.”

The accessibility will benefit the community as well, and won’t just help kids. 

“Maybe even a caregiver or a parent or a guardian can swing with their child or child or something, because they might have limited mobility,” Levesque said. “Maybe they used to have to sit on the bench on the sidewalk, but now they can be right up there with them.”