CCISD to Purchase Adaptive Swings for Elementary Campuses

Clear Creek ISD will be installing new adaptive playground equipment this summer for elementary students with special needs.

In recent years, the CCISD Special Services department found there was a growing need for adaptive swings to be added on to existing elementary playgrounds to support students with disabilities. A fifth-grade class at Mossman Elementary also advocated to make their school playground more accessible for wheelchairs.

“I received a bunch of touching letters from the fifth graders last semester,” said Alex Aragon, director of facility services. “There are a couple of students at Mossman in wheelchairs who needed a new swing set. The students voiced their desire to have a space for all students on the playground and drew me pictures. It was very moving, so I wrote back said I was doing everything I could.”

After searching for options, the Facilities department encountered some roadblocks with adding the new swings to existing swing sets.

“The playground company would not certify the current swing sets if we were to add on an adaptive swing,” said Aragon. “The wood mulch underneath is also hard for teachers to get wheelchairs through.”

The team then secured an alternative of adding a separate adaptive swing set system to the playgrounds which also  includes a rubber material underneath the swings and ramps that are easily accessible by wheelchairs.

At the recent Board of Trustees meeting, a motion was unanimously approved to increase a vendor contract using Bond 2017 funding to purchase the adaptive playground equipment from Superior Recreational Products. CCISD will install 13 swing sets at elementary schools where there is an immediate need for the new equipment.

They will be installed at Armand Bayou, Bauerschlag, Bay, Campbell, Ferguson, Greene, McWhirter, Mossman, Parr, Stewart and Wedgewood elementary schools this summer. Ross Elementary and Whitcomb Elementary are currently undergoing major renovations under the Bond program which will include the swings being added there as well. They will be included at additional elementary campuses as needs arise.