Stay and Play at Little Cypress Intermediate School recognized for being inclusive

This article was originally published in The Examiner on Oct. 20, 2016.

By Eleanor Skelton
Staff Writer

This summer, the Texas Action for Healthy Kids recognized the Little Cypress Intermediate School as a “school of success” for their new inclusive playground Stay and Play.

The recognition was based off their year-end report, submitted in a grant to fundraise for Stay and Play.

The playground is handicap accessible and includes components for autistic children and a rubberized cushioned surface.

Stay and Play was not funded with school budget funds, but instead through grassroots efforts with grants and donations, according to Director of Health Services Kelly Meadows, who oversaw the fundraising efforts.

“The whole thing is inclusion. You don’t want the children with special needs isolated,” she said. “We hope that it will become a pilot for other schools and communities.”

Meadows said the school had been informed that the project would be forwarded to National Action for Healthy Kids as the Texas entry. Meadows said she received an email Oct. 6 announcing that “we had made the front page of the nationals website.”

“Stay and Play is a program that we have developed ourselves, and we designed it,” Meadows explained.

“We looked at our students and their needs and selected playground components based on those needs. We wanted our students to be challenged and succeed regardless of abilities,” she said, referring to the basketball goals set at three different heights.

All entries are available at actionforhealthykids.org. Little Cypress Intermediate School is listed under “Inclusion at its Best: Outdoor Recreation for All.”

Little Cypress Intermediate School is the newest campus in the LCM district at 14 years old, and the school was built on a 10-acre plot. Phase one of the project provided fencing for a 40-foot x 40-foot area; phase two involved the sidewalk, expansion and playground.

Meadows submitted the first grant in October 2012, and in March 2013, the playground became Stay and Play.

Meadows will begin fundraising for phase three soon. The current plan is to install a security camera and a pavilion for children playing outside
in the heat.

“Our parents are reporting [the playground] is making a difference in our homes,” Meadows said. The school will be opening up the playground for other special needs children in the community and exhibiting Stay and Play to other schools in hopes their idea will spread.