Middle school playgrounds designed to give a new and active outlet to students in grades 5-8

Playgrounds recently installed at both Northport Middle School and East Northport Middle School will be ready for students to use this week and may be used by all students in the buildings, grades 5-8, confirmed school officials yesterday afternoon.

According to the district, the playgrounds provide various opportunities for students to play and will include gathering tables, obstacle courses, a climbing structure, adaptive gaga pit and a serenity spot, which is designed to support students with special needs or sensory processing differences that may need a space to play freely without the excessive noise and movement typically found on a playground.

The choice of equipment was done in consultation with students from both middle schools “to ensure that the playgrounds would meet the needs and wants of those who would be using them,” said district officials.

The new playgrounds are set apart from the playgrounds found at the elementary school level, as they include more challenging climbing structures, obstacles, and an increasingly popular playground feature: the gaga pit. (Gaga ball is a fast-paced variation on dodgeball in which individual players direct the ball with an open or closed hand near the ground rather than catching and throwing it.)

District parents began advocating for playgrounds at the middle schools once it was decided via a board of education vote earlier this year that the district would close two out of six of its elementary schools and move to a K-4, 5-8 and 9-12 model as part of its reorganization. Funding of the playgrounds was worked into the district’s revised budget, which passed on June 15; the original budget failed in its first attempt in May.