Recently a reader of the Huletts Current stopped by the playground at the Whitehall school district and emailed me these photographs. As you can see for yourself, the playground was in poor condition due to ignorance and vandalism.
A used, dirty diaper was left rotting in the sun, with garbage littered nearby. This was in clear eyesight from the school.
A used, dirty diaper and garbage were found littering the Whitehall’s school playground.
A slide in the playground was found vandalized and our reader pointed out that the plastic is really hard – it’s meant to stand up to kids running up it, etc. The only way this would get smashed would be if someone took a very large rock, brick, etc., and really put some force into deliberately breaking it – which seems to be what happened.
A hard plastic children’s slide was found bashed in most likely by a rock or hard object.
The slide, which is hollow, was filled with water from the rain, attracting bugs and mosquitoes.
The perimeter of the school is full of security cameras. It would be interesting to know if the high tech surveillance was capable of catching the culprits of this desecration of school property. (And those cameras did not come cheap.)
I think what is most frustrating to the taxpayers of the district, is that not only do we feel we are being overtaxed, but it also seems that the administration is very cavalier in protecting the investments that the taxpayers do make. Sadly, this is a perfect illustration of how the playground is cared for by the school and thought of by some of the people using it.
(Click on pictures to see full-view.)