 | | We are well on our way to building a better playground. |
Sheridan Elementary is working on our playground pickle. Currently, we have a small sandbox with a few small pieces of equipment, such as a balance beam, a set of parallel bars and some monkey bars for our entire school. This is not adequate. We are working on a solution.
In December of 2002, Sheridan's staff created a Playground Committee. The PTA has promised to assist in fundraising, and the committee has met with different members of St. Paul Public School's grounds and plant planning departments. If you would like to get involved with Sheridan Elementary's Playground committee, or would like to make a contirbution to our efforts, please get in touch with David Nathan or Jason Kuhlman, our playground committee co-chairs. They can be reached at David.Nathan@spps.org and Jason.Kuhlman@spps.org or call Sheridan Elementary at (651) 293-8745.
Watch this space to find out more about this exciting process as it unfolds. Last updated: Monday, April 19th.
*Update! On Thursday, January 30th, a member of the Sheridan Playground Committee attended a City of St. Paul meeting about the citywide StarGrants program. The grants offer up to $25,000 for capital improvement projects that the public can access. The playground committee has started the proposal process to apply for this grant.
*Update! On Tuesday, February 11, St. Paul Public Schools Grounds and Labor Supervisor and District Playground Liaison Jackie Kearns met with the Sheridan Elementary Site Council. Mrs. Kearns answered many of our questions about the process of putting in playgrounds and suggested materials and types of equipment to ask sales representatives for.
*Update! On Thursday, February 13, Sheridan Elementary's PTA discussed the Krispy Kreme sale on February 14th and brainstormed additional types of fundraisers. The PTA also decided to contact representatives from the list of approved playground vendors from St. Paul Public Schools and ask  | | One of EFA's designs for our future playground. (click to enlarge image) |
them to attend a join PTA/Site Council meeting in March to inform the Sheridan community about their products and prices.
*Update! Many, many parents donated generously to our playground fund Thursday, February 28th at Sheridan’s annual “I love to read” night. Sheridan Elementary Krispy Kreme fundraising manager Mary Holland also took dozens of preorders for doughnuts. Sheridan thanks the parents and friends who contributed!
*Update! On Tuesday, March 25th, Sheridan's PTA, Playground Committee and Site Council met with sales representatives from Midwest Playscapes, Webber Recreation Design and Earl F. Anderson, Inc. Sheridan's Playground Committee will be visiting sites around St. Paul to look at examples of different playgrounds in the next two weeks and will decide on a vendor shortly.
*Update! Sheridan's playground committee visited several St. Paul City and Public School playground sites on Saturday, April 5.
*Update! On Thursday, April 24th, Sheridan partnered with Gerten Greenhouses to sell flowers and gift certificates to raise money for our playground. If you are interested in ordering petunias, panseys, or other gardening products from us, please call the school at (651) 293-8745 or visit us during school hours (8:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m.) and pick up and order form. Orders will be accepted until Friday, May 2nd.
*Update! On Monday, April 28th, Playground Committee Co-Chairs Jason Kuhlman and David Nathan attended St. Paul Community Council 1 monthly meeting. They presented the school's plan to build a playground and received a letter of recommendation from the group. This letter is required to apply for City of St. Paul Star Neighborhood improvement grants.
*Update! On Tuesday, April 29th, The Playground Committee voted to hired Earl F. Anderson (EFA) to build our playground.  | | A second design for our playground by EFA. (Click to enlarge image). |
EFA was one of three companies initially approached by Sheridan Elementary to compete for the project.
*Update! On May 2nd, Mr. Patrick Quinn promised $15,000 to the Sheridan Elementary Playground effort. The $15,000 grant will be formally awarded once Sheridan Elementary has raised an additional $30,000.
*Update! On May 6th, Sheridan Elementary received a formal letter of recommendation for our project from our District 67 State Senator, Mee Moua. We appreciate her endorsement! We have also received letters from State Representative Sheldon Johnson, St. Paul City Councilmember Kathy Lantry, and the District 1 Community Council.
*Update! On May 16th, Sheridan raised over $100 for the playground from the sales of Krispy Kreme donuts. Sheridan also received another $100 from the Sheridan carwash Saturday, May 17th.
*Update! Sheridan Elementary made over $600 from our Gerten's Greenhouse flower sale, which ended May 30th. All the profits will be used for our playground committee. The Playground Committee would like to thank Sheridan teachers Nancy Mambi, Molly Privette, Alice Petersen and Patti Busta for their help with this project.
*Update! Sheridan Elementary recieved a donation of $1,000 from TCF Bank for our playground project. Thanks TCF!
*Update! Sheridan Elementary Recieved a matching STAR grant from the City of St. Paul for $10,000 for our playground project. Thanks very much to City Council Woman Kathy Lantry, the STAR Committee and the playground committee for all their help and hard work in getting this accomplished!
*Update! Sheridan Elementary is planning on starting construction of our playground in summer, 2004. We will start phase 1 of our project with the money available as of May 15th, 2004. Will will continue to raise funds next school year until we have $50,000 to complete the second phase of our playground project.
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