Playground opens
Community effort took years
Stewart Burnett
Northern News Services
Thursday, October 6, 2016
INUVIK
As children run and play, organizers are breathing a sigh of relief that East Three School's new playground is finally in operation.
Key players in the construction of a new playground at East Three School gather in front of it. From left to right are East Three School principal Deborah Reid, Inuvik District Education Authority chair Lesa Semmler, DEA board member Janelle Wainman, Lyle Gully of Bob's Welding, Fred Bailey of Northwind Industries and Nihtat Gwich'in Council president Jozef Carnogursky. - Stewart Burnett/NNSL photo
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"It's done," said principal Deborah Reid, a big smile on her face and hair still wet from watching students play on the new equipment outside. "Kids are playing on it. You can just tell by looking at their faces the enthusiasm they had."
The playground has been years in the making, spearheaded by the Inuvik District Education Authority (DEA) when the old school received $50,000 from the military as thanks for opening the facility to them during a period of bad weather.
Reid later managed to get $50,000 from the Department of Education, Culture and Employment to go toward it.
The school purchased a playground set on sale, and Northwind Industries donated its resources to haul the equipment to Inuvik and store it.
"It would have been a huge expense for the DEA to come up with," said Lesa Semmler, DEA chair.
But the school still had to have the playground manufacturers certify it, and that delayed the opening further as winter had already hit.
Professionals came last June and declared that the playground wasn't fit for use, as some pieces had been damaged from storage, so the school had to put a fence around it for summer.
That's where the Nihtat Gwich'in Council came in. President Jozef Carnogursky donated free labour to help get the playground in proper order.
Finally, for the playground to be certified, it needed a proper earthen substrate or floor, which could cost tens of thousands of dollars itself. To solve that, Bob's Welding donated rock-crushing work to make the sandy bottom.
"Those three companies put that playground here, and if we didn't have them then I think [even with] us working behind the scenes, we wouldn't have that playground for those kids," said Semmler.
Carnogursky said it was an easy decision to donate his labourers.
"It would definitely be in the thousands," he said when asked about the value of the work he donated. "It would be up there if we were to bill. We share the same view as the DEA. It was pretty easy for us to donate. We thought that our children here in town deserved more than certified driftwood. It's a good asset for the community and good for all the kids."
The certified driftwood he mentioned refers to the school's old playground, which is little more than a small group of logs set up together.
"Now this actually looks like a school," said Semmler.
Students packed the equipment all day playing on it.
Reid said it would be good for the whole community.
"None of the school property is fenced in, so (on) weekends, evenings, summers and holiday vacations, it's a safe place for parents to go in the middle of town. I think that's going to be of value."
