Repaving Slated for 9 School Playgrounds

Cracked and potentially dangerous playgrounds at nine elementary schools, including six in the Valley, will be repaved this summer as part of a $1-million Los Angeles Unified School District project.

That’s music to the ears of Laverne Moore, principal of Capistrano Street Elementary in Canoga Park.

Due to heat and lingering earthquake damage, said Moore, “our school has been on the paving list for the last four years. Our number came up, and we’re very happy.”

The repaving is particularly welcome at Capistrano, Moore said, because the school has five special-education classes and a number of students in wheelchairs.

Her school was chosen because of the severity of the cracking, according to Jim Samples, the district’s director of maintenance and operations. Of the 374 schools awaiting repaving, he said, the district could only afford to resurface the nine most dangerous--six in the Valley and three in the L.A. Basin.

“We have safety hazards on the playground out there,” Samples said. “These playgrounds are in bad shape,” as are many others in the district, he said.

Although the 500-student Capistrano School has had no major injuries due to pavement cracks, Moore said, “you don’t have to have an accident to know that cracks in the pavement aren’t safe for our children. Any time you have a crack in the pavement . . . there is the possibility of an adult being injured as well. It’s not just children.”

According to Samples, repaving is also taking place at Chase Street School in Panorama City, Fullbright Avenue School in Canoga Park, Pomelo Drive School in West Hills, Reseda School in Reseda and Vena Avenue School in Pacoima.

Resurfacing should be finished at all schools before classes resume in the fall.