On a Saturday afternoon toward the end of January, Matthew Amster-Burton and his 3-year-old daughter Iris walked the few blocks from their home to the play structure at Lowell Elementary School. He was surprised to find the area was fenced off and that the gates were locked.
The gate and locks had gone up quickly and without public notice. Aware that school playgrounds are intended to be a community resource, he set out to learn about the closure and to find out what might be done to reopen it.
The reason for the closure had to do with ongoing safety issues. The playground had been experiencing a variety of safety-related problems after school hours. Drug paraphernalia, broken bottles, even human waste would regularly be found in and around the playground. The extent of the problem reached the level where fencing the area off, thus keeping the playground closed after school hours, was deemed a necessary step.
"I'm very sympathetic to safety concerns at the school, but I wondered why I hadn't heard anything about this before. I also wondered if there wasn't some other solution," Amster-Burton said.
To that end, he called the school and learned there had been no community outreach on the subject, which surprised him. He next contacted an online Capitol Hill parenting group, and learned that others shared his concerns. His interest led to a community meeting last week to discuss the locked playground. More than 30 people attended the Feb. 13 gathering. Of the neighbors in attendance, most of whom lived adjacent to the school, not one spoke in favor of keeping the gates locked.
One letter, intended to be read at the meeting, illustrated some of the concerns. Written by a couple who lives adjacent to Lowell, it was a voice in favor of having the playground area fenced off:
"Our family members have been repeatedly accosted, intentionally frightened, and even verbally abused by individuals using the playground and its surrounding grounds as a hangout and/or drinking location. Since the area was fenced off recently, these incidents have stopped completely, and as a result we feel safer in our neighborhood."
The closure issue also involves the playground's status as a public amenity. Public school playgrounds are intended to stay open to the public after school hours. There are no playground locks, for instance, at other Hill elementary schools such as Stevens or T.T. Minor.
Lowell principal Hall Kimball, who was recently brought out of retirement to return to Lowell after the previous principal moved to another school, told the crowd that student safety was the motivation behind putting up the fence and keeping it locked after school hours.
"The fence was put up because teachers and students would show up Monday and find a situation that was not safe for kids," he said, adding that he was not at Lowell when the fence decision took place. "But I am frustrated because the playground is a community asset, and we do want to be a good neighbor."
Some neighbors felt the locked play structure did little to alleviate safety issues at Lowell.
"The gate hasn't changed anything. People can still climb over the fence. The problem is that it's very dark by the play structure. We need more lights. The gates have just relocated the problems," said a woman who lives across the street from Lowell.
"The playground should be a wonderful public resource, but we can see problems over there every night," said one parent. "It's a waste of one of the good things that brought us to the neighborhood."
Another resident spoke of the "aura of disrepair" that Lowell Elementary School projects, which contributes to safety issues. The school is made up of several buildings and could use and aesthetic overhaul. And as an Accelerated Placement Program school, it draws from students throughout the city and is thus not a neighborhood school in the traditional sense.
The playground itself was built in 1993, funded in part by a Department of Neighborhoods matching grant. Amster-Burton suggested that public funding likely came with the stipulation that the park remain open to the public.
"This is my daughter's favorite playground," said Amster-Burton, adding that his family uses it three or four times a week during the warmer months. "We want to find out what has to happen to keep the playground open."
Kimball told the crowd that the playground will be kept open until 5:30 p.m. during the school week. Those hours would ideally increase as the days get longer in the coming months. School employees are available to lock the gates at dusk.
During summer hours, custodians at Lowell, who have keys to the gates, can keep the playground open until 3:30 p.m. or so during the week.
Still to be resolved: Weekends, when no one is regularly working at the school, and summer afternoons and evenings.
Amster-Burton said an informal Friends of Lowell Playground group may evolve around the subject. Neighbors were encouraged to communicate regularly with each other, play closer attention to the school grounds and be more directed in calling 911 when needed.
"I don't think anyone has an issue with keeping the playground closed at night," he said. "That's when most of the problems are. But there is a lot of community interest in keeping it open during the day. It's a community resource, and I hope the city moves pretty quickly on this."
The online Capitol Hill parenting group can be found at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/capitolhillparenting/
Doug Schwartz is the editor of the Capitol Hill Times. He can be reached at editor@capitolhilltimes.com or 461-1308.
[[In-content Ad]]
