School board OKs Dzantik'i Heeni playground funding, but some members may seek different equipment

Changing design after public process will lead to further delays and costs, city project manager says during special meeting Thursday

A bus arrives at the Dzantik'i Heeni campus on Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Independent)

By Mark Sabbatini

Juneau Independent

Hopes of getting a new playground at the Dzantik'i Heeni campus by the next school year took a big step forward Thursday when the Juneau Board of Education approved a plan to spend $500,000 for equipment at the three-school site in Lemon Creek.

Support for the playground was expressed by a dozen parents and educators offering public testimony during Thursday’s special meeting of the board. Several people said that means kids are playing on a dirt field strewn with rocks and dog feces since nearby residents frequently bring their pets there.

"The kids have been playing in unsafe conditions, including icy parking lots and muddy fields, with very little to entertain themselves for the recess period," said Breanna Stewart, who said she has students at two of the schools on the campus. "This has resulted in increased injuries, conflicts among the students and problems that the staff is having to take away from learning time to address. A playground is not a benefit, it is vital to our children."

Dzantik'i Heeni, a former middle school, now consists of Yaaḵoosgé Daakahídi High School, Montessori Borealis and Juneau Community Charter School. The three schools were relocated there as part of a districtwide consolidation in 2024 to help resolve a major budget shortfall crisis, resulting in the campus being the only one in Juneau with elementary students that lacks a proper playground.

There also are no local public parks nearby, so people with families in the surrounding residential neighborhoods are also expected to frequent the school playground.

The board by a 6-1 vote approved spending enough matching funds to secure all of a $250,000 contribution from the Benito and Frances C. Gaguine Foundation. So far $70,000 has been raised by the Juneau School District through a "Buy A Brick" fundraising campaign, so the school board’s vote on Thursday was to authorize up to $180,000 — in other words, whatever amount short of $250,000 remains when the brick fundraiser ends.

The board, as a cost-saving measure, is also requesting Juneau Assembly cover $100,000 of the district’s allocation by freeing up that amount from funding restricted to a RALLY afterschool program the district cancelled last year.

While the school district — and contributions — are paying for the playground equipment, the Assembly last September approved $735,000 for site preparation work. School board member Melissa Cullum said at Thursday’s meeting she met with the city attorney earlier during the day to address the question of "whose project is this?"

"They were able to definitively tell me that this is a school district project," she said.

Cullum, one of two members newly elected to the board last October, said she’s concerned because it appears the city has largely determined what equipment is being installed on what she said some residents have called the "Lamborghini of playgrounds."

"I would also really like to consider looking at play equipment that fits within our budget, so that way we are not overextending ourselves, yet we're still being able to provide a safe place for our students and community," she said.

The project as designed includes two composite structures — one for tots, and one for students in grades 5-12 — and tot swings, plus additional donated equipment being installed by local Rotary clubs. Lisa EaganLagerquist, a city project manager, told board members the specific items are the result of extensive public meetings and other input.

Also, EaganLagerquist said, the existing design is at a 95% completion stage — meaning extensive detailed specific engineering and other work has been performed — and changing the equipment now would mean significant delays and additional costs.

Concern about that — and the characterization of the playground equipment as extravagant — was expressed by Steve Whitney, a relatively new board member appointed last May.

"This has been going on for two years — most of us weren't involved in this and we inherited it," he said. "And my sense is if we delay it any longer we're going to put it out for another year, so the kids will go three years without a playground.

Also, Whitney said, "I wouldn't characterize it as a Cadillac of playgrounds. I don't think it's any more extravagant than you'll find at the other elementary schools."

The lone dissenting vote was cast by Jenny Thomas, another member elected to the board last October, who said she is "extremely hesitant and uncomfortable putting forward the funds to buy something that we literally have no say in."

"I am more than willing to help provide a playground, but I feel like it needs to be in the best interest of the kids at that school," she said. For instance, she said, instead of tot swings "I feel like we could get a playground that had K-5 swings for the same price tag if we were just looking at other options."

• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.