SAINT CLAIR - The Saint Clair Area School District approved Lowell Harzell as the contractor to install the playground equipment Wednesday night.
Superintendent Kendy K. Hinkel said that when the school did the initial plans for the renovations, for liability reasons the architect did not design the equipment for the playground on the school's roof since there are specialists for that.
The play yard on the building's roof is just part of the project that includes a complete renovation of the school, the addition of six classrooms, two special education rooms, a music room, a large instruction room, and 23 on-site parking spaces, including spaces for the handicapped.
Hinkel said that the cost of the equipment is $14,000 and the installation is $8,000.
The equipment will include a multi-leg seesaw, movable basketball hoops, a balance beam and tabletops for checkers and chess boards, but there won't be a swing set.
Hinkel said that the school is also changing its recess policy by shifting from free play to planned activities. The school board also approved the new computer-based math initiative for the fall called ST Math from Mind Research Institute, which will have no budget impact.
Hinkel said it's an expensive program and she worked with the company to push the cost down to work within the margins of the federal money the district has available.
"The company also agreed to let me pay for it instead of in one giant payment, over two fiscal years by using money from the first fiscal year, tapping it out, making a $20,000 payment, then I think it's either $14,000 or $16,000 the second year, but I'll get the next flow of money at that point," Hinkel said.