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Landels Elementary School in Mountain View is one of several local schools that received funding this week from Santa Clara County to build an inclusive playground on their campuses.
The county Board of Supervisors approved Tuesday a second $10 million round of matching funds for all-inclusive playgrounds to be built at schools and parks throughout the county, including in Palo Alto, Mountain View, Cupertino, Santa Clara and San Jose.
The groundbreaking playgrounds are designed to include children and parents with physical or cognitive disabilities, with careful consideration paid to smooth surfacing; custom climbing, sliding, swinging and spinning zones that improve balance, spatial orientation, focus and motor skills; and spaces that encourage quiet play. The first Magical Bridge Playground opened in 2015 in Palo Alto at Mitchell Park.
“It’s gratifying, and frankly, it’s just the right thing to do — to provide all-inclusive places to play and socialize,” said Santa Clara County Board President Joe Simitian. “I’m so pleased that our county stepped up to help create more of these innovative playgrounds for all.”
Plans are underway for a Magical Bridge playground to be constructed at Rengstorff Park in Mountain View. In June, local students conducted a coin drive to raise money for its construction. The City Council approved the project in 2017, and it’s expected to be completed in 2020.
In 2017, the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a plan proposed by Simitian to set aside $10 million in matching funds for all-inclusive playgrounds to be built in each of the county’s five districts. This is the second funding round, which Simitian’s office said is “designed to leverage additional funds from cities, school districts, philanthropies, and individual donors.”
More than 10,000 children in Santa Clara County have “major disabilities” and over 20,000 receive special-education services in schools, according to Simitian’s office. But the fabric of the county’s schools and parks don’t match that reality: Except for the Magical Bridge Playground in Palo Alto and the Rotary PlayGarden in San Jose, parks, no city or school playgrounds, are fully accessible to children or family members with disabilities, his office noted in an announcement.
“These grants show just how much we can do if we partner together,” Simitian said. “I hope this will inspire additional partnerships in the coming years.”
Editor’s note: This story was corrected to clarify that Landels School will have an inclusive playground, not a Magical Bridge Playground.
Editor’s note: This story was corrected to clarify that Landels School will have an inclusive playground, not a Magical Bridge Playground.
Editor’s note: This story was corrected to clarify that Landels School will have an inclusive playground, not a Magical Bridge Playground.
This is not correct. Magical Bridge Foundation is not working with Landels Elementary School to build their playground — though I wish they were.
Landels is getting an all ability playground to coincide with the high medical needs classroom which will open next year.
I hope it is not a Magical Bridge playground. Mitchell Park put one of those in and they get over 15,000 visitors a month. Landel Elementary is embedded in a single family home neighborhood with our inadequate for this kind of traffic. The noise will be terrible for our residents.
Put the Magical Bridge monstrosity in a larger park like Cuesta or Rengstorff. Leave the natural beauty of Landels alone…
Tons more traffic at Landels scares me. I live right at the drop off area on the Mercy St. side, and people jostling for dropoff parking have hit my car in front of my house four times now. The final time totaled it. I no longer park in front of my house.
I’m guessing we will attract a lot of kids from outside Mountain View to this park, these magic bridge style playgrounds are really nice, and kids love them. The downside to all these soft, smooth materials, though, is that they break down really fast, so I do hope that the city maintains them properly.
The City of Mountain View is currently planning to add an all-inclusive playground at Rengstorff. It’s in partnership with the county and the Magical Bridge foundation. The county is behind the grant-making because the popularity of the Palo Alto Magical Bridge playground demonstrates the demand – and the belief is in increasing the “supply” will relieve some of the current pressure on families to go to Palo Alto.