News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
DeKalb Middle School students are in full swing as they enjoy a new playground on the school’s campus.
The playground features a concrete slab with two basketball goals and a three-bay swing set. DeKalb Middle School Principal Teresa Jones said the school never had a playground previously. Jones said students have enjoyed having a space to play.
“Seeing the joy on the kid’s faces first of all,” Jones said. “We use it a lot with our CDC and PBS students sometimes as means to just take a break. Seeing that when the kids were able to go out there and see it was priceless in my opinion.”
Jones said the school encouraged physical activity before the playground but called it organized chaos. Jones said the playground will hopefully help kids focus at school.
“They are just looking for things to do,” Jones said. “When you leave them to come up with their own things to do sometimes we don’t like that result necessarily, but they want to be outside and they want to do things but they don’t want to have to figure it out themselves.”
The playground was funded by the Student Council. Student Council Sponsor Suzette Barnes said the playground goes beyond physical activity.
“One of the things that I have enjoyed watching is the relationships being built between students and teachers,” Barnes said. “Students can shoot basketball and they didn’t have that before, so to see them asking their teacher to shoot basketball with them or play a game and seeing the teachers out there playing those games with students and building relationships. That’s what we need in schools.”
Jones said the playground is just the foundation. Jones said they have some plans to add more to the playground such as special needs activities so every student can enjoy it. The student council will explore options for grant funding and continue to fundraise to fund those additions.
