APS Fleet Elementary Playground... what happened?!

[Anonymous]

Went by school and appears they are installing additional equipment, which was super exiting until I started looking closer. Install doesn’t appear to be finished but what is now there looks the install was maybe messed up. Monkey bars and hanging rings so low that they would only work for a 4 year old, a slide that appears to be for toddlers. All strange because this is supposed to be for 5-12 year olds ( according to the signage that is on the equipment). It looks like they buried about 3-4 feet of the poles in concrete and covered it with rubberized mulch so the whole structure appears to be missing about 25percent of intended height and is almost sunken... like a playground that is sinking in quicksand. Of course kids can still figure out a way to play on it but the super low rings and low monkey bars seem to be a safety hazard— could totally see a 9 year old running right into it since they are at head level.

Sorry Fleet , your playground was already lame and this “improvement” looks like a complete flop! Hopefully this isn’t the final result because for now its looks pretty terrible. This has to be the worst new APS playground around.

[Anonymous]

Grow up. A lot of schools have a Separate preK/K playground or some smaller equipment for the little kids.

[Anonymous]

Arlington has so many amazing playgrounds, I can’t take any playground complaints from an Arlington parent seriously. You don’t know how good you have it.

[Anonymous]

DP here. Even so, it sounds like a waste of money to install equipment that isn't age-appropriate. Would also be curious to know how that happened, but it sounds like the usual defensiveness is on display.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Grow up. A lot of schools have a Separate preK/K playground or some smaller equipment for the little kids.

The manufacturer placed a “5-12” label on it. So no, this isn’t separate pre-K equipment.

[Anonymous]

What happened is that they made it ADA accessible so kids with disabilities can access it.

So sorry that doesn't meet your aesthetic preferences, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What happened is that they made it ADA accessible so kids with disabilities can access it.

So sorry that doesn't meet your aesthetic preferences, OP.

I’m not sure burying equipment lower than it’s designed for technically makes it ADA accessible. There are much more specific criteria to meet those standards. Almost seems like an installation error. I agree it’s odd.