Superintendent Christine Vespe said she’s excited for fundraisers to kick off for the Home School Association’s and Shamong Education Foundation’s efforts to erect an inclusive playground. (Krystal Nurse/The Sun).As students file into the hallways at Indian Mills Elementary School and Indian Mills Memorial School, updates are coming to the district to help students learn more intuitively, and play.
Shamong School District Superintendent Christine Vespe said the Home and School Association and the Shamong Foundation for Educational Excellence are working together to construct an inclusive playground at the elementary school.
Vespe said the idea for the playground came as the elementary school’s largest playground is dated and has equipment that isn’t used in other playgrounds anymore. She added it also helps kids of all abilities improve their social and emotional skills.
“Play is such an important part of elementary education, and I think kids need to learn to socialize, and that’s where they get to feel on an even playing field,” Vespe said. “They can all have a good time together and it enhances their educational experiences.”
In a grant proposal provided to The Sun, the groups hope to have a Venti play structure, a Topsy Turny, a boogie board and a Wooble Pod Bouncer. Vespe added each component of the playground teaches children how to play with one another, strategic thinking, coordination and communication skills.
She added students love recess and being able to play with one another outdoors.
The playground, which is estimated to cost around $50,000, is being paid in part by a grant and multiple fundraisers held throughout the school year. The groups hope to build it, section by section, starting by next summer.
This year, however, the organizations are hosting fundraising events that will help pay for the playground such as a Taste of the Town on Sept. 13 with restaurants and vendors providing samples of goods, and a DJ.
Both groups, she added, have approached township committee and the rest of the township about their plans to build the playground.
Other updates coming to the district include an expansion in the curriculum for fourth- and seventh-graders.
Fourth-grade students, Vespe said, will be able to have a hands-on experience with zebrafish and assume the role of a junior scientist, orchestrated by a University of Pennsylvania educator in a weeklong project.
She said the specie was chosen due to its close relation to human genes (they share 70 percent).
Seventh-graders will participate in a cross-curricular unit about aerogardens and be responsible for caring for them. She added teachers will assign projects or coursework to integrate the project into classroom lesson, with a trip at the end of the year.
“We also have Stop the Bleed, which came out of the Sandy Hook shooting, which teaches educators how to administer first aid prior to first responders coming,” Vespe said. Shamong will be one of the first districts in Burlington County to receive the instruction.
Stop the Bleed is an initiative to administer aid to children who have open wounds to reduce the number of possible casualties after at Sandy Hook died from injuries sustained during the shooting.
First-aid instruction is paid by the county’s office of emergency management, and it provides kits for the district to be installed near AEDs.
Vespe added, with the tragedies at Sandy Hook in Connecticut and Majory Stoneman Douglas in Florida, the district has been proactive in keeping kids and staff safe. She said the State Police has a resource officer in each building, and teachers are tested and taught on a monthly basis about school security.
Additionally, the district has streamlined the process for parents to drop off items for students by placing items in bins, outside of the main office, so they do not have to continuously enter, sign in, get a visitors pass, etc., to leave a project, lunch or money for their children.
With the changes in the district, Vespe said she’s optimistic about the new year as enrollment is moving up and new staff was hired over the summer.
“Welcome back to another great year in Shamong, and we’re excited to be working with families, students and the community,” Vespe said. “We’re looking toward another successful school year here.”
