More than $18,000 has been raised by the Dexter Primary-Middle School PTO over the past two years for new playground equipment. The equipment is scheduled to arrive later this month and will be installed during a May 6 volunteer work day.

“Just because Dexter is having some business problems our kids aren’t going without,” Rae-Shawna Laughton, newly elected president of the PTO, said Wednesday. “We’re making sure they have the best education,” and that includes providing them safe playground equipment to help their social development and improve their physical fitness, she said.

Laughton, a Dexter native who moved to Georgia years ago for employment, said she recently returned to the town because the schools offer the best education and because the town is a safe community in which to raise a child.

The funds for the playground were raised from candle sales, Christmas events and a cookbook whose recipes were contributed by primary pupils, Laughton said. In addition, the Plummer Foundation provided $5,000 for the project.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Laughton said. She thanked Anne Jordan, the primary school principal, for her tireless efforts on the project, and the public who supported it financially.

The metal equipment will include slides, monkey bars, and fitness equipment and will replace the wooden climbing tower and slides currently on the ground.

Laughton hopes the public will come out in force May 6 to help install the equipment. There will be day and night shifts.

The PTO also plans to thank the pupils in May for their efforts. A magician will entertain the boys and a special person in their lives at a dinner April 27, and girls will team up with a special person to attend a daughter dance and dinner May 18.
"This content originally appeared as a copyrighted article in the Thursday, April 25, 2002 edition of the Bangor Daily NEWS and is used here with permission."