The Perry County District 32 Board of Education heard from a couple with concerns about the Primary Center playground equipment, among other items, when it met in regular session on the evening of Wednesday, Nov. 11, in the Old High School building.
Ashley Brown and her husband, Travis, addressed the board concerning injuries to their child, who is currently a second grader at the primary school.
On Dec. 5th, of 2023, he was injured on the playground. He was the third exact same incident to happen. His was just very severe. I brought pictures to show you. He was running out of the playground. He didn't duck, I guess, and hit his head. He got 10 staples. His skull was showing. Nurse Logan handled it very, very well. She rode with me to the hospital.
“The doctors told us that had he hit it a millimeter one way or the other, he would have scalped his whole entire head. We're very thankful that that didn't happen, but since then, we have asked that the playground be fixed. It has yet to be fixed. [Assistant Superintendent Craig Hayden] called me today with an update that hopefully tomorrow we can see some progress.”
Mrs. Brown told the board that what had sent her “over the edge” was when a student was injured this year on the football field, and the following week, the cause of the injury had been removed.
“There was a solution,” she said. “My child was injured on the playground, and it was never fixed. Since his incident, there have been seven other kids that have gotten hurt on the playground. Not as severe, not really the exact same scenario. There may have been a trip, a fall, falling off the monkey bars, whatever. We believe that the playground is unsafe.”
Mrs. Brown said she and her husband had a meeting with Primary Principal Emily Koenig and Hayden, who gave them a printout of the playground.
“It says that 90 to 94 kids can be on that playground at once,” she said. “We believe that is too many. There's not enough space. We would like to see something done to give the children more space to play. There's entirely too many kids out at the playground at once, and we feel that that is one of the reasons why he was injured — because there wasn't enough space.”
Mr. Brown said he and his wife’s primary concern is why it has taken a year to solve the problem of playground equipment that is possibly defective, as well as to lessen the number of children on the playground at one time.
Mrs. Brown said, “I reached out to an attorney for advice because, on our behalf, we were going to try and threaten the playground company to help you guys move it along so that they would fix it. And in return, we thought that we would have to take action against the school because it's your property. That's something, at that time, we didn't want to do. We don't want to do that. We just want to see it fixed.”
Replying to the Browns, board President Nancy Voelker said, “I think that's what we want as well. Just to let you know kind of what I did after I talked with you, I did go back to make sure we had followed our policy. Our policy says if a child's hurt somewhere here on campus, we fill out a report.”
According to Voelker, the incident happened when a new safety officer had begun working in the district.
“But the records are all there,” she said. “You are correct. There were seven reports of incidents on the playground. We want it fixed just like you do, and I agree that we do need to look at the numbers of how many kids are out there. We do need to come up with something else so that it is safe for the kids, and you will get it fixed.”
In other action, the board:
– approved the consent agenda items;
– approved the 2024-25 bus routes and emergency bus routes;
– approved the resubmission of an RFP for surplus school buses;
– approved publication of an RFP notification for underwriting services for long-range financial and long-range facilities planning;
– adopted the MSBA policy regarding board member conflict of interest and financial disclosure;
– reviewed and discussed a number of MSBA policy updates;
– heard the presentation of the district’s financial report, as well as Jane Narrow’s presentation of MAP/EOC data, and the district’s literacy plan.
– heard a spotlight presentation on the preschool program’s current progress.
During closed session, the following personnel items were approved:
– the retirement of Janice Guebert as a sped teacher, effective June 30, 2025; and the resignation of Bettina Comstock as an art teacher, effective May 23, 2025.
– the transfer of Julie Wibbenmeyer to board of education secretary and superintendent administrative assistant, while keeping her current H.R. responsibilities.
– the transfer of Dorris Thieret from an administration II position to a paraprofessional student aide position.
