MERRIMACK – The staff at the Gate City Charter School for the Arts in Merrimack is on the lookout for a pile of 18 donated logs stolen from the school.

The logs were intended to construct parts of a “natural playground,” including balance beams, as well as benches for an outdoor classroom. The material went missing between June 2 and 3 from the school location at 7 Henry Drive near the YMCA.

“The logs disappeared overnight. Parent volunteers took an entire Saturday, and drove to Stoddard, N.H., to pick it up,” said school director Karin Cevasco.

Cevasco said the wood was stored outside, stacked a little ways into the woods on campus, near the Henry Clay access road. The logs were donated and estimated to be worth thousands.

Parent volunteers and Gate City staff have been preparing to build a natural playground for students as the first year for the arts-integrated K-8 charter school comes to a close.

Natural playgrounds use raw elements such as stones and logs to construct a play space for students. Although there is an outdoor play area at the school, there is currently not a structured playground for students.

“We do plan to go ahead with this, we have a group like a PTO … with parents raising money specifically for a playground. Right now, they have $2,500 for the playground,” she said. The total estimated cost for phase one of the playground is closer to $6,500, and includes fencing, landscaping and a small deck.

The theft hit the charter school particularly hard because it doesn’t receive the level of per-pupil funding as traditional public schools do.

“The school relies on the donations of parents and community members to support its program and is deeply saddened by the theft of these logs for our natural playscape,” Cevasco said in a June 15 statement.

She said the playground encourages creativity, an inquisitive nature and life-long love of learning – which is the school’s mission.

“The creation of a natural playground will assist in the mission of the school, as the children do not currently have a designed playground,” she said. The construction of an outdoor classroom is also important because the school occupies a refurbished office building, and some classrooms are walled off in cubicles in the interior of the building and do not have windows.

“It would be nice to have a place to go outside for students to get some fresh air,” she said.

Gate City staff did not file a police report, but ask anyone with information to contact
Cevasco at 943-5273.

Tina Forbes can be reached at 594-6402, tforbes@nashuatelegraph.com or @Telegraph_TinaF.