March 28, 2024

CCSD opens up bid process for ECC playground

The bid process for the Early Childhood Center playground project has officially been green lighted by the Creston Community School District Board of Directors after the board unanimously approved a request for proposal (RFP) and public hearing for the bid during Monday’s regular meeting.

A public hearing for the ECC playground bid will be held 12 p.m. Monday, July 30, in the board room.

“This is basically the equipment we were hoping to install,” CCSD Superintendent Steve McDermott said. “You’ll notice that in this RFP, the site prep and all that, we’ll do ourselves here. It will be done locally. We’re hoping to save some funding with a lot of volunteer help for installation.”

Originally, the ECC playground project was expected to be completed by the start of school in the fall.

But, McDermott told the board Monday, that will not be the case.

“We’re waiting for the first domino to fall, which would be the surveying and the grading,” ECC Principal Callie Anderson said. “I hope it’s done first quarter.”

“They’ll be working on dirt work really soon up there,” McDermott said. “If you drive by up there, you’ll see that we’ll have to have some fence torn out and some grading done, not only for the playground, but a long existing issue has been the way that’s currently graded, water comes back toward the foundation of the building.”

The playground itself will have two separate areas – one for children ages 2 through 5 and one for children ages 5 through 12.

According to Anderson, Iowa code requires equipment coded for ages 2 to 5 for the center-based preschool students.

“What we haven’t thought about is how do you keep the 2- to 5-year-olds deterred from the bigger pieces,” Anderson said. “That’s something I need to talk with the designer about, because by regulations, they’re not supposed to be on the bigger pieces.”

The playground will also include a freestanding curved balance beam, two drop shot stations, a global motion sphere and a we-saw (a piece of equipment similar to a see-saw, but with seating for four).

According to the RFP, CCSD will do a volunteer community build of the playground equipment, with the vendor providing factory certified installers to supervise the installation and ensuring the equipment is installed according to manufacturer’s specifications.

Board Member Galen Zumbach said he will include the site in his grant writing for trees, so he can plant new trees at the location next spring.