Playgrounds should be for all kids.
Soon the one at Muheim will be.
Construction has broke ground on Muheim Elementary School’s new playground.
If you’ve walked by the school’s playground in recent weeks, you might have wondered about a “construction zone” sign plastered across the playground fence.
The school will be getting a brand new playground put in over the coming weeks as part of a government initiative announced last year to help fund playgrounds in the province.
A construction crew was hard at work Wednesday morning digging up the playground and moving forward with the construction.
“We received $105,000 to put a new playground in and the government decided on Muheim,” said Dave Margerm, secretary treasurer for School District No. 54 – Bulkley Valley (SD54).
Director of facilities with SD54 Tim Bancroft said that construction on the playground will take around three more weeks to complete.
He adds that the biggest change in the playground is that the equipment is designed to be more accessible for children with physical or mobility issues.
“We’re going more and more to accessible [playgrounds] so kids who have some physical challenges, mobility challenges, they are able to participate as well,” said Bancroft.
He adds that a feature of the new playground will be a zipline that runs parallel to King Street.
In addition to the changes, many parts of the old playground that are no longer up to safety compliant codes, such as the older monkey bars and pressure-treated wood, will be ripped out and disposed of.
The funding was announced last May by Stikine MLA Doug Donaldson and is part of a Playground Equipment Program spearheaded by the NDP that provides funding to school districts to purchase new or replacement playgrounds.
