GRANTHAM — Superintendent Sydney Leggett and the Grantham School Board would like to thank the Grantham community for supporting a $700,000 bond to fund the renovation of the Grantham Village School playground and grounds.
On Tuesday, March 1, voters at the Annual School District Meeting approved the bond measure with 84 percent of residents at the meeting voting in favor.
“I want to express the gratitude of the entire Grantham Village School community for the support the Town of Grantham and its residents have shown both to our fundraising efforts and to the bond measure approved by Town Meeting,” said Superintendent Leggett. “Renovating the playground and grounds will facilitate our school community’s belief that outdoor play provides excellent opportunities for physical and mental well being.”
The renovation will modernize the playground and grounds, add equipment aimed at older children who have previously had limited interest in the equipment, and remediate major drainage issues that often make the playground too hazardous to use during the winter. The renovation will also make the playground and grounds compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Messages from those who donated to a fundraiser for the renovation project will be included on bricks embedded within the playground.
New equipment and facilities will include a timber-frame pavilion, which Yankee Barn Homes is donating 75 percent of the costs for, as well as bike racks, a picnic area, a hillside slide, double-bay swings, a rain garden, and a timber tower that includes a covered slide, a short slide, a climbing wall, rope balance area and climbing net. School leaders hope to have ground broken on the project’s first phase this summer.
“Those of us at the Grantham Village School can’t wait to see children engaged in playing outside more often on a new playspace that was designed with the landscape of the Upper Valley and New Hampshire’s historic lumber industry in mind,” said Principal Kristen Reed. “I would also like to welcome the community to enjoy this renovated outdoor resource once the project is complete. We invite all Grantham families to visit, play and gather on the grounds on evenings and weekends.”
