The fire department had discovered the school’s playground ablaze in the middle of the night. They put out the fire, but not before the playground had been completely destroyed.
The Academy posted pictures of the wreck on Facebook. Twisted remains of metal climbing equipment stand alone amid the ruins of collapsed platforms and bridges that lead to nowhere. The ground is covered in scorched woodchips and discarded odds and ends. According to executive director of marketing Julie Schultz Brown, some school windows and doors were damaged, too.
“It’s just disappointing,” she says. Everyone is getting ready to go back to school, and new equipment is being ordered, but it probably won’t be ready for use until the end of September or early October. Until then, the playground remains a no-man’s land.
“Nobody can be around or in it,” Brown says.