Plans for another major upgrade to the École McIsaac School playground rest in the hands of Flin Flon city council.
Council is being asked to sign off on the installation of an amphitheatre classroom and a seasonal slide on municipal property near the school.
“We’d like to be able to move forward with this as soon as possible,” Melissa Danis, a member of the McIsaac Parent Advisory Council (PAC), told council last week.
Danis said the plan is to build an amphitheatre that could host outdoor classes in the northeast corner of the playground.
Though no formal drawings have been devised, she said PAC envisions a venue complete with four curved benches and four separate levels.
“It will be nice to have for the community,” said Danis, adding that the educational benefits of being outdoors have been repeatedly shown.
Danis said the location of the seasonal slide could be selected with feedback from council.
The slide would be custom-engineered and require approval from safety regulators, she said.
“It would be removable. It would not stay there all winter and the McIsaac Parent Advisory Council and the school would deal with that,” Danis said.
She said PAC hopes to have the amphitheatre ready for fall, so it would like to begin work in the next few months.
A hurdle PAC now faces, Danis said, is that grant applications cannot be made without approval from the city, which owns the land in question.
Council will now consider Danis’s request. No indication was given as to when a decision will be announced.
Danis said the amphitheatre and slide represent the last step in a four-phase upgrade of the McIsaac playground. New playground equipment and landscaping have been part of the previous phases.
She said PAC has about $56,000 in its reserve fund with another $10,000 contribution due from the Flin Flon School Division.
Beyond that, Danis said she has $55,000 in grant applications ready to be sent out.
