Renewed efforts from parents push for Sandwich playground progress

SANDWICH — Every day after school in September 2021, kindergartener Olivia Podi came home from Forestdale School, in tears.

"She could see the playground but couldn't play on it," said Olivia's mother, Kelly Podi. "Instead they were playing with some bouncy balls and chalk on gravel and blacktop in the front parking lot loop."

After talking with her son, Nicholas, who just finished third grade at Oak Ridge School, Kelly Podi learned the elementary school playground for grades three to six grade was also a mess.

"Every time something breaks at the Oak Ridge playground, they kind of chop it off and cap it off and it just keeps shrinking," she said. "They aren’t fixing it they are just removing the problem."

Parents create the Playground Project

The condition of the school playgrounds made its way through parental social circles, motivating Podi and three other parents Angela Klida, Antonia Silitro and Ashley Bulger to form the Playground Project.

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Meeting intermittently at coffee shops throughout the fall, group members worked to talk with school officials about the state of Forestdale and Oak Ridge playgrounds and raise money to fix them. The group also focused on town-owned Sandwich Adventure Playground, which is the only public playground in Sandwich.

"We decided it was our duty to get things rolling," Kelly Podi said. "We all really rallied together to get the town to help with the school playgrounds – the goal was to team up and make a difference."

Group pushes for funds at Town Meeting

As they began planning mass emails and forming a petition for parents to sign, the group was told about capital improvement plans voters would be asked to approve at the May 2 Annual Town Meeting.  

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Article 15, listed on the 2022 warrant, specifically, asked residents to approve a main motion for $13 million Proposition 2 1/2 debt exclusion for projects to improve school buildings, grounds, playgrounds and public infrastructure such as Sandwich High School, Oak Ridge School, Forestdale School and the town's Human Services Building. Roughly $465,000 of the $13 million will go towards school playgrounds, Silitro said.

Group members doubled down their efforts on Article 15, and encouraged parents to attend annual Town Meeting and vote. For Silitro, who has three children who will eventually go through the school system, there was much at stake.

"Beyond just the playgrounds being in disrepair or non-existent, the schools are falling apart," she said. "There’s major improvements that need to happen to the schools so that was easy to get behind and rally other parents and community members around that."

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Debt exclusion passes, but playground projects pause

When the debt exclusion passed, Playground Project members were pleased. What has been disheartening, said Podi, is that not much has been done since.

"They told us the goal is to have this completed by spring 2023, but we would like something to be happening right now," she said.

Pamela Gould, superintendent of Sandwich schools, confirmed that $13 million will go towards school repairs, with roughly $465,000 earmarked for Forestdale and Oak Ridge playgrounds.

Gould said there's also $80,000 from ESSER, also known as  Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds, dedicated to playground pre-work, she said.

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"Right now the town is actually going through the process to secure the funding that was approved," Gould said in an email. "We do not have the money in hand yet."

Although school officials received an architect proposal from Gale Associates, a consulting engineer firm, in June, Gould said there is a backlog in supplies and nothing can be ordered until funding is available. She is confident the playgrounds will be ready by spring 2023.

Don DiGiacomo, chair of the School Committee, agreed and said the playgrounds are in the first group of capital improvement projects to be done. Bidding for construction is another factor that could delay the work, he said.

"I wish I could tell everyone the exact time frame on this, but realistically it's not going to happen this summer," DiGiacomo said. "The money won't be in place in time. The designs won't be done in time."

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Silitro is sure that school officials have the best of intentions, but insists they need to act now.

"If we want a playground in March, we probably need to order (supplies) by December, which means we need a design settled and budgeted out by the fall to make sure we have the money," she said. "We need to have discussions now in order to be fully signed off on everything."

Klida said Playground Project members were under the impression they would be a part of a playground committee formed by school officials.

"Nothing has really begun. We are anxious to start this," she said. "We are not going to let the whole summer go without getting started."

There are no plans to create a specific playground committee, Gould said. Forestdale Principal Chris Dintino is assembling a group that will weigh in on the playground design. A timeline for the project will also be posted to the town of Sandwich website.

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Dintino didn't respond to calls and emails from the Times.

For Silitro, she hopes school officials understand that group members are ready to volunteer for whatever is needed to push the project forward.

"We’re here not to point the finger. We are here to help," she said. "We want to be part of the solution.

Fundraising efforts ongoing for Adventure Playground

Playground Project members have embarked on fundraising for Sandwich Adventure Playground.

The site, on Quaker Meeting House Road, is in bad shape, said Silitro. In some places, she said, the playground structure is held together with duct tape.

Since Adventure Playground is maintained by the Recreation Department, and isn't connected to a school, the site won't benefit from capital improvement money approved at Town Meeting.

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With that in mind, Playground Project members held "Sip and Slide: Silent Auction & Cocktail Party" fundraiser at the Sagamore Inn Restaurant in May, raising $15,000 for improvements or equipment replacement. The Sandwich Women's Club also contributed $3,000, creating an $18,000 nest egg.

"It’s (Adventure Playground) 20 years old and it will need to be replaced so we are looking at our options for that," said Klida. "It's not wheelchair accessible and it’s not up to code."

Should the group raise enough to replace Adventure Playground, they won't stop there said Silitro. The group has even gone as far as planning another silent auction, which would be held Thursday, May 25, 2023 at the Canalside Pavilion at Sagamore Inn Restaurant.

"We are not going to stop. We will keep going until all the playgrounds in Sandwich are replaced," she said. "We will absolutely keep the momentum going."

This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Sandwich parents want to see progress on local playgrounds