The Avon Maitland District School Board is constructing a barrier-free pathway from the school’s north parking lot down to its lower sports field to improve accessible access to the field.
By the beginning of the school year in September, staff and students at Stratford Intermediate school, as well as members of the public, will have barrier-free access to the school’s lower sports field.
This week, Kurtis Smith Excavating broke ground on the first phase of a project aimed at making Stratford Intermediate school’s outdoor sports facilities more accessible. In what will likely be an ongoing project, the first phase will see the construction of a barrier-free pathway from the school’s north parking lot to the running track in the sports field behind the school, which is much lower in elevation.
“As many in the community know, we’ve been working on accessibility at what was the former Stratford Central (secondary school) and is now Stratford Intermediate,” school board facilities administrator Hugh Cox said. “To improve accessibility is part of our goal, which we’re well on our way to doing with the installation of an elevator (inside) and barrier-free access to all floors of the building.
“Now that we’ve got that done, we needed to provide some accessibility to the athletic and recreational field.”
Previously, Cox said the grade of that slope on the north side of the school building was too steep to allow people with mobility issues to access the lower field without help. In the winter, the school board restricted staff and students from accessing the lower field using the previous sidewalk at that side of the building because, when covered with ice, it became too dangerous to maintain.
“It’s quite steep and we can’t maintain it in the winter,” Cox said. “It didn’t meet any barrier-free specifications or requirements. … and even our custodian staff, we won’t allow them to maintain it in the winter because it’s just not safe to even be on.”
With provincial plans in the works that could require kindergarten to Grade 12 schools to provide barrier-free access to outdoor sports facilities, Cox said the school board decided to act now to reduce the steep grade of the slope and lay down a concrete pathway that will allow everyone to access the lower field safely.
Cox said the school board also took into account the public use of the field at Stratford Intermediate school for various recreational activities, including sledding in the winter – an activity he said the board cannot condone for insurance reasons. Therefore, he said the pathway was designed so it would have as little impact on the public’s use of that field as possible.
“That’s one of the reasons we chose the design that we ended up with, which was to keep the path on that (north) side of the hill, which is less popular, and leave the more-popular side open. … It’s more like a sidewalk. It’s not really going to feel like a ramp and it’s a little more organic in its design. It’s kind of fitting in with the topography. … The hill is going to look relatively undisturbed other than there’s a sidewalk running down it,” Cox said.
While the pathway will provide access to the lower field, Cox said there may be other phases of this project that could see even more barrier-free pathways to other parts of the field, like areas where there is student seating.
“This is kind of the first step,” Cox said.
In total, Cox said the first phase of this project will tally at just under $190,000. Cox said the concrete for the path will be poured the week of July 18, and the project’s first phase should be mostly wrapped up by the end of the month.