Jean Massieu students delighted with new playground

For the first time in nearly a dozen years, the students at the Jean Massieu School for the Deaf and the Blind have a playground. An unveiling and ribbon cutting took place on the first day of school, Aug. 22.

“The excitement from the kids is so contagious,” PTA President Crystal Hess said.

Jean Massieu had been a charter school until it became part of Utah Schools for the Deaf and Blind in 2005. In 2010 the school moved into the newly renovated campus at 1655 East 3300 South. At the time, the school did not have enough money for a playground.

For more than two years, the PTA and students worked hard trying to raise the money for the cost of the project. They sold Barnes and Noble and Domino gift cards, collected Box Tops and Cream ‘O Weber milk lids and many of the students donated their own money.

The school was able to raise $55,000. Then the Utah Legislature pitched in the remaining $100,000 needed to build the playground.

Sen. Karen Morgan pushed for funding of the playground at the legislature. She was surprised when she learned the school did not have one.

“Every school should have a playground,” she told the students at the ribbon cutting.

The celebration was almost ruined when, on Aug. 16, vandals crept in the school yard and tagged the equipment and asphalt with blue graffiti-painted symbols and obscenities. But several volunteers and companies, including UDOT, came out to clean up the mess, making sure everything was ready for the first day of school.

The playground is wheelchair accessible and features a range of activities for students of varying ability levels. Designers used stainless steel when making the slides, avoiding the high density plastics which can generate static electricity and interfere with cochlear implants. Different textures were incorporated in the handrails to give blind student a tactile experience.