posted on October 31, 2008

Playground dream now reality: Boredom turns to fun at Norton

By:
Published: June 2, 1998
Source: The Hamilton Spectator

There's nothing like a few monkey bars to lift community spirit.

And thanks to a dedicated group of parents and teachers, C.H. Norton Elementary school has a bunch of them, plus a whole lot more.

Where there was once just an empty field at the Cleaver Avenue school, now sits a $20,000 playground set.

The chair of the school's environmental and safety committee, Shelley Pearson, was instrumental in getting the playground project off the ground.

Pearson, whose two children are in grades 2 and 5 at C.H. Norton, said the playground set gives kids something to do other than just chase each other around. There are currently 600 students enrolled at the school.

``Kids are easier to supervise when they're not bored and pushing each other around, so it will probably make supervision a little easier for the teachers.''

The playground was the result of two years of fundraising which included proceeds from local businesses, spaghetti dinners, hot dog and pizza days.

Parents and teachers, however, were responsible for more than just the fundraising, they were also responsible for the installation of the playground set, completed a couple of weeks ago. But Pearson says all the hard work was worth it. ``The kids just love it ... they think it's great.''

And with all the funding cuts to education over the past couple of years, Pearson said it's important for teachers and parents to work together. ``We have to band together, otherwise things can get pretty depressing.''

The city has agreed to look after the maintenance of the playground, open to all Burlington children.

Copyright The Spectator (Hamilton) 1998 All Rights Reserved.