Harvard-Kent School parent Rachel Buckley appeared before the Charlestown Neighborhood Council Tuesday, seeking support for a plan for major renovations to the playground at the 350-student elementary school.
In the end, the CNC unanimously approved Buckley’s request, and a letter of support from the CNC will be drafted and sent to Boston school officials and other relevant agencies.
Buckley distributed an artistically designed, full-color flier to CNC members, outlining the Harvard-Kent playground committee’s goals and objectives, with Goal 1 being, “to provide a play space with diverse play styles and separate age-appropriate areas so that all kids have a place to play, socialize, and rest.”
Buckley told the Council that her six-year-old twins attend the Harvard-Kent School.
“I love the school very much,” said Buckley. “I’ve been a resident in Charlestown since 2021. I love Boston. It’s my new home. And we have been really excited about the opportunity of being able to try to improve our outdoor spaces at Harvard-Kent.”
“We haven’t actually had an improvement to the Harvard-Kent outdoor space since 2011,” continued Buckley. “There are quite a lot of improvements that could be made, all the way from very basic – there are some pieces that are broken – all the way to quite massive structural elements that we could fix.”
Harvard Kent Principal Ben Russell and Ms. Buckley spoke with the Patriot-Bridge following the CNC’s discussion of the new playground project.
“If you’ve been down to the school, you can see that there’s a lot of room for improvement,” said Russell. “With the right architecture and the right plan, there’s significant amount of space to do some amazing things for our kids.”
Both Russell and Buckley expressed concern about a ramp that leads directly out on to Bunker Hill Street, creating an unsafe situation for students.
Buckley, the committee chair, said the playground committee consists of ten people, including parents, teachers, a liaison to the school, and Principal Russell, who has impressed the school community with his exceptional leadership and dedication in his first year at the helm.
“The committee meets quite regularly,” noted Buckley. “We also have a lot of community-related engagements. We’ve done some events where we’ve advertised what we’re trying to do, communicating both to the school and the community at-large.”
Buckley said the committee is trying to secure funding for the project by applying for a Community Preservation Act grant through the City of Boston. Buckley believes that with “the right swell of support” from the Charlestown community, its efforts will ultimately be successful.
“I think our school parents are pretty amazing,” said Russell. “We’re fortunate to be here in Charlestown with a number of families who are as committed as our families are to making sure that every child in Charlestown has what they need to be successful. We’re blessed to have folks like Rachel involved at our school.”
Russell showed his dedication to the cause, staying until the conclusion of the two-and-an-half-hour meeting when the CNC cast its unanimous vote during the new business portion of the session. Russell seemed pleased with the CNC’s immediate action on the matter, congenially interacting with members after the meeting.