DISTRICT REPLACING PLAY EQUIPMENT.Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer LANCASTER - The Westside Union School District will spend more than $600,000 to replace elementary school elementary school: see school. playground equipment that fails current safety standards Safety standards are standards designed to ensure the safety of products, activities or processes, etc. They may be advisory or compulsory and are normally laid down by an advisory or regulatory body that may be either voluntary or statutory. . Metal climbing domes, swings and slides - which can get too hot or are too high according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. standards imposed two years ago - will be replaced first at Rancho ran·cho n. pl. ran·chos Southwestern U.S. 1. A hut or group of huts for housing ranch workers. 2. A ranch. Vista, Cottonwood cottonwood: see willow. cottonwood Any of several fast-growing North American trees of the genus Populus. Members of the willow family, cottonwoods have heart-shaped, toothed leaves and cottony seeds. The dangling leaves clatter in the wind. and Sundown schools, and at four other schools within a year. ``Overall we are probably looking to replace pretty much everything for the safety of the students,'' board member Gwen Farrell said. ``We don't want equipment that will harm kids.'' The board voted unanimously at last week's meeting to approve the plan. The funds will come from the extension of a school construction bond tax that voters approved in November 1998. The district gained the approval needed to extend the tax for 18 years and raise an additional $14.7 million. Under Measure Y, homeowners will pay the same amount they already are billed - about $30 on a house assessed at $100,000 - but for 18 years beyond 2008, when the current bond tax is set to expire. The national standards imposed two years ago didn't require that older equipment be replaced immediately, but said that the standards applied whenever public playground equipment was installed, maintained, replaced or repaired, district officials said. All playgrounds have had to have inspections by certified inspectors, and plans were to be developed as a result of any concerns that arose out of the process, Assistant Superintendent Assistant Superintendent, or Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), was a rank used by police forces in the British Empire. It was usually the lowest rank that could be held by a European officer, most of whom joined the police at this rank. Lori Ordway-Peck said. ``What's happening is that people who sold us equipment prior to this development are starting to get skittish skit·tish adj. 1. Moving quickly and lightly; lively. 2. Restlessly active or nervous; restive. 3. Undependably variable; mercurial or fickle. 4. Shy; bashful. (because of liability concerns). So the equipment has started to deteriorate,'' Ordway-Peck said. ``We have had to take out equipment to the point where some of the schools are pretty bare,'' Ordway-Peck said. ``The plan is to go school- by-school and fill in and replace all equipment to one standard.'' At Sundown School, three climbing play structures have been declared off-limits, Ordway-Peck said. At Valley View School, the kindergarten playground area was completely redone re·done v. Past participle of redo. two years ago. ``We had to remove virtually all the equipment because it didn't meet standards. We replaced everything. It's an example of where we are headed,'' Ordway-Peck said. The district will attempt to do the playground equipment installation during school breaks. Ordway-Peck said the costly part of the project is not the equipment but the surfaces that go beneath them, such as a rubberized surface, sand or wood chips. ``There are stringent regulations about how much, the depth and the measurements,'' Ordway-Peck said. |
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