Improvements at elementary school continue

***image1***Take away the cold and a few inches of snow, have the rain and wind subside, let the temperatures warm up a bit, and Kaiserslautern Elementary School children will have access to three unique and wonderful new outside play areas.
KES is constantly growing. Last year, a new playground with swings, slides and a jungle gym complete with a two-tiered climbing wall was established. Over the summer, a new kindergarten building housing four full-day kindergarten classes was constructed. This academic school year, KES continues to grow by adding two new playgrounds and a resurfaced basketball court.
The first new playground is located next to the kindergarten building complex. This arrangement allows smaller children to play on the appropriately sized playground equipment.
The second playground will be located opposite last year’s playground addition with equipment designed for larger children.
The heart of the action continues to be the KES basketball court featuring four basketball hoops and additional space for outside games of all sorts.
Many children are excited about the new playgrounds. Montrez Foster, a third grade-student said “playing basketball outside again will be fun.” Trey Johnson, another third-grade student said, “Maybe we could pretend the snowballs were basketball and we could shoot them.”
According to Sonny Bert-schinger, the vice principal at KES, “Everything is prepared for the final surface on both projects. What they (contractors) are waiting for is the temperature to be above an average 5 degrees Celsius which is required for the surface to cure properly.”
In addition to two new play areas and the resurfaced court, KES is also in the process of having the school gymnasium revamped in March. Due to inclement weather becoming more frequent during the winter months, the back of the school’s cafeteria has become, at times, a new make shift gymnasium. In the afternoon, Kaiserslautern American High School also uses this facility for wrestling team practices.
With the elementary school constantly growing and changing with improvements, students will simply have to wait just a bit longer for some fun in the sun at KES.