TRUSTEES LAYING RUBBER AT LORD ROBERTS

Part of the playground at Lord Roberts Annex will be temporarily replaced
with a rubber surface to address parents' concerns about drug addicts'
needles lurking in the bark mulch.

The pilot project, with a budget of up to $24,000, will start in the next
few months and follows months of parents raising concerns about
detritus-including human and animal waste-left by vagrants and drug dealers
who frequent the area.

Covering the annex's entire play area, about 4,300 square feet, was ruled
out because the cost could reach $68,000.

Lord Roberts Annex, home to 160 kindergarten to Grade 3 students, is
situated in the West End's Nelson Park, a popular gathering place for
street people.

Aside from sparking fears about needles, the bark mulch-the cheapest type
of surface that's used on most of the school grounds in the
district-splinters in dry weather, leaving children vulnerable to slivers.

Doug McClary, school district manager of maintenance and construction, said
the board has tried other surfaces on school grounds in the past, including
sand, gravel and shredded tires, but all proved unsuitable, since they
created a slipping hazard when scattered on hard surfaces like asphalt.

A special surface made of wood fibre cut to specific dimensions is being
tested at four schools, but costs about 40 per cent more than bark mulch.

McClary suspects the surface at Lord Roberts Annex will be composed of
either rubber tiles, currently being tested at Britannia, or
poured-in-place rubber. The former will allow school staff, parents and
children to spot foreign objects more easily, but costs five times as much
as bark mulch and raises concerns about flammability, vandalism and
maintenance costs.

The latter offers similar advantages but provides more stability, although
capital costs are estimated to be about eight per cent higher than rubber
tiles.

Staff are expected to report back in a year on maintenance costs and safety
problems associated with the pilot project at Lord Roberts Annex.

If trustees considered replacing bark mulch surfaces at other schools,
money would be a key issue. "We're possibly facing another fairly
substantial budget cut, so budget resources are an issue in terms of trying
out another product that's several times more expensive than alternatives,"
McClary said. "There's no such thing as a perfect surface."

Debbi Lucyk, chair of the Lord Roberts Annex's playground health and safety
committee, said she was pleasantly surprised by the speed with which
trustees responded to parents' concerns.

"But we still need to pull in more funds to [cover] the entire grounds,"
she said, pointing out the Parent Advisory Committee chair is in the
process of setting up a trust fund to collect donations for that purpose.

Lucyk said the school has experienced fewer problems recently due to cold
weather and an increased police presence, but she suspects once warmer
temperatures arrive, the problems will return.