IPS FUBAR

Matt Tully wrote a great article Friday about the idiots who run our school district. They can't even put up a playground, how in the hell can they run a school district?

The frustrated parents at Sidener Academy aren't asking for much.

Just a playground -- a place for their kids to burn off steam, have fun and get a bit of exercise.

That's all.

It seems like a reasonable request. Sidener is an elementary school, after all, and playgrounds are as fundamental to elementary school as chalkboards and water fountains. But at Sidener, an IPS magnet school near Glendale Town Center, a playground is not elementary.

Take a look at the grassy grounds behind the school and all you'll see is an old soccer net and, on one recent afternoon, a flock of geese.

"All the kids pretty much say recess is boring because there's nothing to play on," Rebecca Klein, president of the Sidener parents association, told me last week. "This isn't just that they're bored; there is also a real need to have activities for them that help with their physical health."


Klein leads a group of parents that has spent a year pushing IPS to provide their children's school with playground equipment. They've asked. They've pleaded. They've waited.

But as Sidener prepares to begin its second year as an elementary magnet serving high-performing students, parents recently learned that IPS will not outfit the school with the climbing walls, sky towers and other playground equipment they sought. So the parents are trying to raise the $7,500 needed to partner with KaBOOM!, a nonprofit group that builds playgrounds.

"It's kind of crazy for the parents at a really small school to have to raise this kind of money," said Klein, whose daughter will enter third grade this year.

Sidener's size indeed makes it hard to raise bucks. It will have only 233 students when classes begin later this month. Nearly three-quarters of the students come from families who qualify for free or reduced-price lunches.

Still, parents are trying. An art auction will be held at 5:30 p.m. Aug. 27 at Zest, a restaurant at 1134 E. 54th St. Other ideas also are being developed.

The playground problem started when the building housing Sidener transitioned a few years ago from a standard elementary school to a middle school. As older students arrived, playground equipment was transferred to other elementaries.

Last year, Sidener opened as part of the district's magnet program. A year in, parents are ecstatic about the school, which saw nearly 99 percent of its students pass ISTEP last year. That's 25 percentage points better than the state average.


Still, there is that one issue.

"A playground is part of what is expected at an elementary school," Principal James Whisler said. "It's part of the curriculum. Our (physical education) teacher can use playground equipment to build students' motor skills, cognitive skills and social skills."

Not yet.

IPS recently announced plans to spend $675,000 to sprinkle new electronic signs throughout the district. But you can't play on signs. And for now, Sidener students have nothing to play on.