Unfinished work keeps students off playground

Greg Risling

COSTA MESA -- Carrie McCluskey thinks she gets at least 10

questions a day from the inquisitive legion of children.

“When can we play in the yard?” they ask one by one.

The sandlot looks tempting. Colorful slides and swings are empty.

Grass seedlings have sprouted.

And yet the playground, redesigned through tireless work since that

day when two children were killed here, has gone untouched.

“It’s going to waste right now,” McCluskey said. “It looks so

inviting. I can see why the kids want to go out there. It’s exciting to

them.”

For the past several weeks, the children at the Southcoast Early

Childhood Learning Center have been confined to a courtyard, the same

place they have frolicked since the day in May when a man drove his car

through the playground, killing two of their playmates.

The children are prohibited from playing in the new yard until the

grounds are completely renovated, according to the county’s Community

Care Licensing Board, which monitors day-care centers. There are a few

remaining items to be added: drinking fountains and padlocks. Kids can

only watch and hope they will be romping around the playground sooner

rather than later.

“Once it’s completed, we will have a site analyst take a look at the

area,” said the board’s district manager Mary Kaarmaa. “When the kids go

out there, we want the playground to be totally safe.”

Work on the playground has been slow because much of it is being done

by volunteers. Most of the materials have been donated and work is

usually done on weekends. Several months have passed now and some are

finding it more difficult to give their time. Teachers know the work is

almost complete but hope one final push can get them to their goal.

“These kids really want to go out in the yard,” said day-care center

director Sheryl Hawkinson. “They are anxious, but we have to keep telling

them to wait.”