Supt. Boasberg boasts about new DPS playgrounds

Denver Public Schools Superintendent Tom Boasberg used his latest newsletter to tout the incredible Learning Landscapes playgrounds sprouting up across the district, thanks to a chunk of the $454 million bond program that voters overwhelmingly supported in 2008.

Through the 2008 bond program, 55 DPS elementary schools have newly constructed playground facilities, and seven high schools have new athletic fields. Learning Landscapes include a playfield, playground equipment, gardens, trees, shade structures and a gateway to their neighborhoods.

“We strongly believe that the playground area should not only provide our students with a fun and safe place to play and get some exercise, but should also serve as an extended learning environment,” Boasberg writes. “Examples of this can be seen with the implementation of school gardens, world maps, number lines and fractions incorporated into asphalt games, sand-blasted poems, and student tile work and art banners.”

Boasberg reports that the district is one year ahead of schedule and more than $70 million under budget in completing the hundreds of school construction and renovation projects that are part of that program. He said students and families can expect all the playground and athletic field projects to be completed in four years, rather than the five years initially projected.

See a full list of Learning Landscape dedications that have taken place over the past few weeks.

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