Swings, springers, and a comet spinner; a cliff rider; a sand pit and digger; one double slide; and a seesaw: those features and others are envisioned for a new playground at Pagosa Peak Open School (PPOS), and, in a preview offered to board members Dec. 11, it’s a vision inching closer to reality.
The renovation, which will also bring gently sloping lawns and other natural elements like wildflowers, boulders and logs, is slated to break ground after this winter’s thaw, according to project manager and former PPOS board member David Pribble.
“We’re in very good shape on the schedule,” Pribble reported. “Everything’s coming along and looking good.”
Final plans for the new $720,000, Colorado Health Foundation grant-funded playground are likely to be ready for state review by mid-January, Pribble noted, with construction scheduled to wrap up some time next August.
“It’s been an extremely difficult challenge, with the monies that we have available,” Pribble said.
He described some of the twists and turns the project has endured since its inception — the latest being a decision to forgo hiring a general contractor.
“With the monies that we have, when we get a [general contractor] involved, you’re starting [to accrue] a lot of extra costs we can eliminate if we assume the project ourselves,” Pribble said, indicating he would remain at the helm of the renovation as project manager and owner’s representative.
“We didn’t really want to go that way, but it was cost-prohibitive to have a general contractor,” Pribble said, adding, “This is the only way that I see us being able to get this thing done.”
Pribble currently serves as a planning commissioner for Archuleta County and has almost 30 years of experience in commercial development, according to his resume.
“Me being involved in it, with my experience, we can definitely mitigate a lot of risk and liability if I’m involved with it every day and control costs, which is going to be very, very important on this project,” he said.
Pribble indicated that applying for the insurances a general contractor would typically carry will now fall to him. He will also be in charge of hiring a retinue of subcontractors to help handle specific jobs like concrete laying and landscaping.
“We’ll want to make sure that those [subcontractors] will have their own bonding and insurance, then,” PPOS board treasurer Pamela Meade said. Pribble replied that they would.
Looking ahead, Pribble told the board he anticipates a permit for construction to be issued by late February, but that the one from Mother Nature may not arrive until March or April.
“The playground construction —I’m still holding four months,” he said, eyeing the project timeline. “I’m anticipating a three-month — with possibly a little punch-list after that — but a three-month construction schedule” with a tentative completion date scheduled for Aug. 4, 2025.
He added, “I am absolutely comfortable with where we’re at.”
Ticking through a list of the new equipment and other design elements, Pribble and PPOS School Director Emily Murphy described a multitiered space that encourages collaboration and interaction, with apparatuses for the most rambunctious and also areas for the quieter, more reflective set.
“It took quite a while,” Pribble said, reflecting on the design’s evolution, “but I think this has turned out to be a very nice playground.”
In an email to The SUN, Murphy reflects on the evolution of the project and the early voices that helped bring it to life, writing, “We are grateful to community members Elly Osmera and Cady Allione for seeking out, applying for and obtaining the grant funding. At the time, Elly was on the PPOS school board and was responding to the request of staff and parents to upgrade the playground. Now both Cady and Elly are on the playground committee and continue to be heavily involved in the design and development of the playground.”
New policy for
participation
During the same meeting, PPOS board members resumed their examination of a question Murphy first raised in November: what to do when students and families opt-out of participating in curriculum-aligned fieldwork at the school.
In a draft policy crafted to address that question, the school notes, “Participation in all fieldwork is an expectation of Pagosa Peak students.”
It further describes the rewards administrators hope students reap from joining in.
“Fieldwork provides students with depth and complexity within their work, allowing them to apply real world experiences to academic concepts,” the draft policy reads. “Learning and teaching become more effective as students make connections, organize information and experiences, and attach value to what is being taught.”
The policy also notes the school’s responsibility to make its fieldwork experiences accessible for all students at the school, and to provide accommodations for students with individualized education plans and disabilities classified under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.
It further specifies, “Colorado law does not require a school to provide alternative activities or accommodations for students who choose not to go on field trips or engage in field work.”
When a student or family opts out of fieldwork activities “due to choice and not disability,” the draft policy states that “PPOS staff is not required to provide alternative activities or environments for students.”
In those instances, the policy asks families to provide an educational equivalent that is approved by the school director.
“I appreciated how clear it was on what is the role of the school and what isn’t,” Meade said of the draft policy. “And that [the alternative activities] are curriculum-based — and not anything goes. So, it’s not just watch a movie and call it a project.”
The policy received unanimous approval by the board.
garrett@pagosasun.com
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