Playground Improvements at Fairway Make Recess More Accessible for all Students

During a recent recess period, Fairway Elementary fourth-grader Loralei enjoyed a game of gaga ball with four of her friends, maneuvering her wheelchair around the gaga pit on the playground, smiling, laughing, throwing the ball and dodging.

Just three months ago, this activity would not have been possible for Loralei. But, thanks to the combined efforts of staff members from Fairway and the Rockwood departments of Educational Equity and Access (EEA), Facilities and Special Education, she is now able to interact with her friends in new and meaningful ways on the playground.

“It feels like I can be a normal kid, go play gaga and hang out with my friends at recess,” Loralei said. “I’ve had so much fun. It’s been amazing.”

Over the summer, EEA Director Dr. Cassandra Suggs met with administrators at every Rockwood school to get a sense of their needs in terms of equity and access for all students. During her visit to Fairway, principal Dr. Lorinda Krey mentioned that one of her top potential projects would be a way for Loralei to more easily access all areas of the playground.

Loralei has been at Fairway since preschool and, in her time at the school, the PTO has funded basketball stands to make it easier for her to play on the blacktop and two adapted swings. But she still had an issue crossing the mulch on the playground without an adult’s assistance.

Suggs started a spreadsheet for all of Rockwood’s elementary schools to collect similar access needs. Then, she enlisted the help of Director of Special Education Dr. Carmen Harris, Coordinator of Special Education Dr. Jamie Smith, Director of Facilities Chris Freund and Coordinator of Maintenance and Ground Services Bill Branson to walk the schools with her and collaborate on possible solutions.

At Fairway, that involved laying down a lattice of connected soft rubber mats from the blacktop to the gaga pit, so that Loralei could transport herself.

“It just grew and grew. It really was a team effort, just dominoes,” Suggs said. “No one person did more than the others. Everyone jumped in and did their part.”

At the same time this process was underway, one of Loralei’s friends set another part of the plan in motion. Lila, a fellow fourth-grader, wrote a letter to Krey and the school PTO expressing her desire for a gate for the gaga ball pit so that Loralei could get into it.

Without the gate, students had to step over a low wall to enter. The Fairway PTO funded the gate and, in mid-November, Loralei had a surprise waiting for her when she looked out of teacher Kaitlyn Flora’s classroom window.

“I turned around, saw Lila smiling ear to ear and was like, ‘Did you do that for me?’ She’s just an awesome friend,” Loralei said. “My face just lit up. It was so much fun.”

Once Rockwood Facilities installed the soft surface over the mulch in late December, Loralei was also able to travel to the gaga ball pit much more easily.

“As her parents, we have always looked at parks and playgrounds with apprehension and heartache,” said Loralei’s father, Mike Tayloe. “So for (Dr. Krey), as well as her teacher and her friends in class to help change that is amazing! It really speaks to the leadership of the school and the staff, as well as the Fairway families.”

“The entire Fairway staff has helped make Loralei’s experiences so accessible and comforting,” added her mother, Erin Tayloe. “She has never known a school environment of restrictions because you all have found so many ways to give her the access to participate as her glowing, happy self, and we can’t thank you enough or express our true gratitude for those added steps and guidance.”

Loralei’s class also threw her a surprise party this year when she graduated from physical therapy, and Flora and school nurse Rachel Patterson attended one of her dance recitals.

“This is the epitome of collaboration, honestly,” Krey said. “It’s very emotional to be able to help do something like this for Loralei. It’s why all of us do what we do. She’s just a bright ray of sunshine. We need more Loraleis.”

The goal now is to expand efforts like these across Rockwood, identifying access needs at all of our schools and providing ways to help other students feel that same sense of belonging and excitement as Loralei.