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New Warwood Playground Offers Improved Accessibility

By ERIC AYRES 3 min read

Officials with Ohio County Schools celebrated the official opening of a new accessible playground Wednesday at Warwood Elementary School, a project for which the city of Wheeling provided financial assistance to complete.

This ADA compliant playground outside of the elementary school and adjacent middle school complex in Warwood is actually the first phase of a planned three-phase project to bring new, accessible outdoor facilities to the schools.

"This past school year, we started a new developmentally delayed pre-K program, and with that comes different restrictions pertaining to how the students play," Warwood Principal Joey Subasic said, noting that the need for this unique playground for the young students in the new program was immediate. "We needed a safe place for them to play, and this area allows for that. That way, we’re not having to utilize Garden Park, and we can stay right here on school grounds for them to have an area to play."

The playground equipment and mulch alone required an investment of around $50,000, and there were additional costs for new paving and fencing around the area. The school was able to raise funds in the community and work with the city of Wheeling to help provide matching funds in the amount of $26,000 that made the new playground possible.

Other phases of the playground project are also moving ahead.

"This is really one-third of our progress, but we’re happy that we got this part done," Subasic said. "We hope this project will be a launching point for the other two thirds of the project that we have, which is a play area for grades 3-5 and an outdoor classroom."

School officials said plans also call for other additions to the first phase of the playground project and possibly other cool features - like bluetooth-connectible wheelchair stations and outdoor music spaces in the planned outdoor classroom.

Subasic said the school is seeking ADA grants and continuing to raise funds for the future phases. A craft fair is taking place this weekend with funds that are raised at the event going toward the future playground developments.

"We want to improve this whole area," Subasic said, noting that the playground will be open to use when school is not in session by the general public - particularly families with smaller children and those needing ADA accessible playground equipment. "We have shared use with the city of Wheeling. It is open to the public during non-school hours."

Wheeling Vice Mayor Chad Thalman, who represents Warwood as the Ward 1 councilman, said he was aware that this long-awaited project was years in the making. Fundraising efforts for the accessible playgrounds began back in 2010 when current Ohio County Board of Education President Andy Garber was principal at Warwood Schools.

"I think this playground is going to be a great addition to the Warwood neighborhood," Thalman said. "I’m happy that the city was able to contribute to help make this a reality, and I really appreciate Ohio County Schools for taking the lead on this and moving forward."

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