A playground should be a safe place for children to have fun, but the small West Texas town of Wilson is struggling to find the funds to keep their playground up to date.
With a little more than 130 students from Pre-K to Seniors, it’s no secret that Wilson I-S-D is a small community. Their playground is the only one children have in the community to play on, and it hasn’t had its equipment replaced in over 15 years.
Principal Richard Soliz said at their last school board meeting the idea of replacing the playground entirely was discussed, but that it’s very expensive. Right now the school is looking at potential vendors.
“We are looking to replace some of the equipment, we have to bid it but even the replacement parts are a few thousand dollars,” Soliz said. “To have the playground replaced we are looking at the upper $30,000 which for a small school like us it’s difficult to do.”
One mother, Ashley Avila said the playground has become a safety hazard for children in the area. With a broken slide, loose steps, broken bars, she said local kids have hurt themselves while playing.
“My concerns are I have a two-year-old and there’s really no where for her to play out there,” Avila said. “We’ve had kids that have broken their ankles and hurt their backs because of this equipment.”
Freshman Jesus Pantoja said it’s the only playground he’s ever known.
“I’ve been here since pre-k and we’ve had this playground for a very long time, it would be nice to get some news slides and monkey bars,” Pantoja said. “It was decent for us back then but now we look at it and I think the children deserve better.”
