We, the undersigned parents, caregivers, and community members, are asking the School Committee and school leadership to reopen discussion regarding safe recess play space at Carlisle Public School.

Currently, students regularly play sports such as soccer and football on pavement during recess because there is no designated surface better suited for these activities. While injuries are an inevitable part of childhood play, the environment in which children play can influence the type and severity of injuries that occur. We believe schools should take reasonable steps to reduce preventable risks whenever practical solutions are available.

For many families, this issue extends beyond injury prevention alone. Carlisle is a community that values outdoor space, active play, and the wellbeing of children. Parents reasonably expect that students in our school system would have access to a suitable area for everyday sports and active recreation during recess. Many community members find it difficult to understand why, in a town with abundant open and natural space, students are still playing organized games on pavement when there are safer and more accessible and inclusive options available.

Injuries serious enough to require emergency medical treatment have occurred, and many parents have raised concerns about the risks associated with children playing sports on pavement. Community members have also requested information regarding injury reports to better understand the broader picture. Regardless of the total number of incidents, families should expect school leadership to consider practical opportunities to improve student safety where they exist. 

Importantly, improving the recess surface is not a new idea. Resurfacing a portion of the plaza area with a softer play surface was included in the original Castle Playground project discussions and has remained under consideration for years. Funding for the project exists, and the Playground Committee recently developed a proposal to resurface approximately one quarter of the plaza space in a way that addressed prior concerns regarding environmental impact and snow removal.

Despite this progress, discussion of these options ended in November without a broader public forum or even a School Committee vote, and plans are now moving forward to repave the entire plaza this summer. Use of this funding should, of course, follow the proper approach taken by any other town government committee, with appropriate weight given to community input. 

We respectfully ask the School Committee to:

• Reopen discussion of recess play surface options before summer paving proceeds.
• Hold a public forum to review proposals and community feedback.
• Prioritize a practical solution that provides students with a safer surface for sports and active play.

We recognize that no playground environment can eliminate all injuries. Our expectation is simply that the school make every reasonable effort to reduce avoidable risks and provide children with safe opportunities for movement and play.

Please sign this petition if you support reopening this discussion and ensuring that student safety remains a priority in the decision-making process.

 
 Update:

Folks, if you're seeing a decision maker section, that is added and populated automatically by the platform and may be drawing from stale web resources. And if there's a donation link at the bottom, that's also for the change.org platform, not anything related to Carlisle or funding for plaza resurfacing.

Finally, the School Committee chair sent us an update on May 23rd reporting that a decision has been made to not repave this summer; this is a change from the last School Committee update, and it's unclear how this decision came about or by whom it was made.