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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Playground is more than fun and games


Art teacher Jane Morgan, left, chats with Brock Baughman, 9, and Jacob Rucker, 7, right, under the new playground shelter at Borah Elementary School. The students have conceived and designed various elements of the playground as art projects. 
 (Jesse Tinsley / The Spokesman-Review)

The adults gathered at the back of Borah Elementary School’s gym grinned like proud parents watching their children perform – except few were parents of children in the room. They were Kiwanis Club members and contractors, gardeners and salespeople, artists, mortgage agents and retirees. They were city employees and tree specialists, painters and business owners, Boy Scouts, carpenters and teachers.

“You listen to us read. You’re the bright spot in our week,” a fifth-grade boy recited to the group.

“You make a difference in our lives. You help us grow,” another boy continued.

“We can’t say thank you enough,” a little girl added, and the adults looked as if they’d do anything the kids asked at that moment.

“It’s important to teach the kids to say thank you,” says Jane Morgan, Borah’s art teacher. Jane organized the appreciation event because she’s more overwhelmed than the kids are at what the community has done for Borah. “I know these people take an interest in children’s lives.”

Thanks to Jane’s ingenuity and perseverance and the community’s generosity, Borah celebrated its 50th birthday with a five-year facelift that cost taxpayers next to nothing. With her artist’s eye, Jane saw potential in Borah’s bleak blond brick walls and depressing gray playground. Rather than gripe about the lack of money to brighten Borah, Jane shaped her vision for the school into a plan that fit an Idaho Community Foundation grant for $25,000.

That grant launched a project that taught kids as young as 6 about cost projections and planning, untapped goodwill in the neat homes around Borah, willingness of small and large businesses to share expertise, labor and materials and the fun and satisfaction of seeing an impossible dream turn to reality.

“I like building things, and kids like building things,” Jane says simply. “Even intangible things like building community.”

Jane had taught at Borah nine years when the gravel-covered playground and dilapidated swings and slides taunted her compassion like a bad joke. Inside, the school was happy, creative and nourishing for its young students. Outside, it was as inviting as a prison yard.

The Idaho Community Foundation liked her proposal that an architect help Borah students analyze the playground and redesign it. Coeur d’Alene architect Jon Mueller volunteered for the job.

Jon and Jane took fourth-graders to Spokane’s Manito Park and to Sunset Park and Bluegrass Park in Coeur d’Alene to decide what elements Borah’s playground had to have. The kids wanted color and new play equipment, trees, gardens, tetherball and basketball courts, boulders for climbing and a shelter from sun and rain.

With Jon’s help, Borah developed a plan and timeline. Jane found help everywhere she turned. The Citizens’ Council for the Arts awarded Borah an artist-in-residence – Jan Wilhelmi. Jan painted bright murals around the playground with the kids and helped them create tile mosaics to decorate Borah’s outside walls.

The school district supplied new playground equipment and the city of Coeur d’Alene brought leafy shade trees to plant. Boy Scout Buddy Frasca erected a greenhouse and two raised flower beds at Borah for his Eagle Scout project. Kiwanis decided it had $10,000 to help Borah build the shelter kids wanted.

Nurseries donated plants and flowers. North Idaho College decided building Borah’s shelter was a good lesson for its carpentry class. Neighbors planted, stores sent supplies, professionals offered expertise, parents and other volunteers supervised. Jane asked and no one said no.

Borah’s rebirth cost about $120,000, but the school district asked taxpayers for nothing. The community took over like an old-fashioned barn-raising and taught children through experience what community is all about. But the most important lessons came from Jane: Dreams are worth the work; planning and patient persistence pay off; and never forget the thank-yous.

Except she did forget one. Jane and students gave out flowers and plaques, ribbons and hugs to the volunteers at Borah’s appreciation assembly. But no one thanked Jane, and no one deserves thanks more.