The Hillsboro Intermediate School is getting a new playground.
Hillsboro R-3 Board of Education members voted unanimously Feb. 27 to award a $255,919 contract to Hutchison Recreation and Design in St Louis to install the new playground. The company’s was the highest of seven bids, but school officials said the bid met all the district’s requirements and aligned with student and staff input about what they wanted in a new playground. It also was less than the $275,000 the district had budgeted for the project.
Assistant superintendent Clay LaRue said the school’s current play area is primarily a blacktop surface with some kickball backstops, a volleyball net and basketball hoops.
“The new playground will provide a fully functional, all-inclusive play space designed specifically for our fourth, fifth and sixth graders,” he said. “It will feature a fitness challenge-style obstacle course, a large gaga ball court and an open play area.”
At the Feb. 27 meeting, some Hillsboro Intermediate fifth graders read persuasive essays they had written to argue their case for a new playground to the board. They wrote about why the outdoor space should be reimagined and what they’d like to see in the new playground.
“We deserve a playground to play on and get our energy out,” one student said. “I believe it would be worth it to invest in an upgrade where kids could grow their social skills, build motor skills and help calm themselves down.”
LaRue said the goal is to finish the new playground before the start of the 2025-26 school year, but the timeline is still being finalized with the vendor.
“Once the timeline is set, we will communicate updates to ensure a smooth installation process,” he added.
The district will use capital improvement funds, as well as money from the school’s previous fundraising efforts and a recently awarded $20,000 grant from the Jefferson Foundation, to pay for the new playground, LaRue said.
He said the new playground will have a positive impact on student life.
“Projects like this playground … are particularly rewarding because they directly impact student’s daily experiences,” he said. “While necessary facility upgrades, like roof replacements or infrastructure updates, are important, projects that enhance student engagement, physical activity and hands-on learning provide a more immediate and visible benefit to their overall school experience.”
Hillsboro Intermediate Principal Leslie Marchetti said a new playground has been needed for years, adding that the school district’s recent restructuring, which moved fourth graders to the Intermediate School at the start of this school year, got the project moving forward.
“There were going to be 700 students in the building, and some of them are younger, so we really started pushing for it,” she said.
To gauge interest and student needs, Marchetti and a committee of administrators began speaking to teachers across all grade levels. In addition, fifth grade students were assigned to write persuasive essays as part of the English Language Arts curriculum, describing what they wanted the new playground to look like.
Marchetti said student feedback about the new playground has been positive.
“They’re all so excited about it, even the (outgoing) sixth graders who won’t be here anymore,” she said “It’s been a dream and a long-term goal realized for me as well.”
Superintendent Jon Isaacson said he, too, believes the new playground will be a big improvement to the school.
“I am excited for our students and grateful to Dr. Clay LaRue, Leslie Marchetti, Scott Readnour, Ray Bess, the Board of Education and so many others who have contributed to this project,” he said.
“It has been a long-standing need and another one of the exciting changes and updates on campus.”