The new playground at Truesdell Elementary School at 800 Ingraham Street NW

by Cesse Ip

On Friday, November 13th, Mayor Muriel Bowser held an opening ceremony for the new $1.5 million playground at Truesdell Elementary School at 800 Ingraham Street NW. The new playground replaced a nearly 40-year old playground that was too small and proved to be unsafe for multiple students, according to Fareha Ahmed with the Truesdell’s Family Teacher Organization (FTO).

Advocacy for the new playground began in the beginning of 2019 with parents of the school testifying downtown in front of DC’s Committee on Education. Several students had gotten hurt on the old playground, and they used to have a problem with flooding. The FTO successfully was able to secure $1.5 million to get a new playground for the school, and construction began in April 2020.

The old playground at Truesdell (photo: WKM Solutions)

The FTO hopes that the new playground can serve as a gathering place for the community, an idea that played a part in why they decided to open it up to the neighborhood. While the school is still working out the logistics on how they will facilitate opening and closing the gates, they hope to have it open during daylight hours when it is not in use by the school.

The entire area runs almost the entire length of the block and is divided into several parts. One playground is for younger children ages 2-5, one for older children ages 5-12, and a paved area with painted hopscotch and racetracks at the southernmost end. FTO advocated against using PIP (poured in place rubber) for the surface, but their request was denied.

Despite this, they still hope that this area can serve as a community gathering space where people can have meetings, families can meet up for coffee, and where they can help foster a sense of community within the school with socially distant physical gatherings.

Petworth News talked to Megan Kelly, an enthusiastic neighbor and mom of two small children who lives two blocks away from Truesdell. She told us she considers parks and playgrounds an extension of her house, and to have such a nice playground so close would be life changing for her and her family. Other nearby playgrounds like Hamilton require her to cross Georgia Avenue, and the (currently under construction) playground at Taylor Street and nearby Emory Rec Center are not quite walkable with her four-year-old. Equally excited is neighbor Desy Vasquez who lives just a few blocks away. Her 3-year old son goes to school at Truesdell, likes the playground very much and wants to play there every day.

Julian Burke plays on the new climbing structure.

There are two entrances for the new playground, one faces Ingraham and is right next to the west entrance of the school, and the other offers handicapped access off of 9th Street NW, just south of Ingraham. Additionally, four new water dispensers were installed at the playground: two traditional water fountains, and two bottle fillers.