Ribbon Cutting To Christen Accessible Playground At Oak Forest School

OAK FOREST, IL — Five weeks after a playground that offers access to students who live with autism and other sensory processing and communications disorders opened for daily use, the Southwest Cooperative at Morton Gingerwood School will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony commemorating the space.

The ceremony will be held at 10 a.m. on Oct. 26 and will officially christen the playground, which was made possible through a grant offered by Jewel-Osco. Jewel-Osco President Mike Withers, who has become a champion for the school after a happenstance meeting with Morton Gingerwood Principal Regina Schnell at an Oak Forest Jewel, will be present for the ribbon cutting, officials said.

The new playground includes a surface that is smooth for wheelchairs and features playground equipment that is safe for all students. Jewel-Osco also provided a six-foot fence that wraps around the park area, making it even safer for students to participate in school activities. The space will also host movies and other community events that students and parents can enjoy together.

For Schnell, the playground has been a long time coming as she has worked to provide as strong of an educational experience — inside and outside the school — as possible.

“It is just a blessing to have this playground and just let (students) be kids,” Schnell said.

Schnell sees an opportunity for a school that uses recreation time as part of its play-based learning educational philosophy without placing restrictions on any of the program’s students. She told Patch previously that in addition to allowing students a place to play, the playground can also be used in physical educational classes and for community events such as movie nights as well.

“I think it’s going to open doors,” Schnell told Patch last week.

Schnell said that Jewel-Osco has been an important partner in providing the playground and a life skills room that offers Morton-Gingerwood students a space to learn important skills that will serve them well in the future. While the Jewel-Osco Foundation provides funding to schools around Illinois for similar projects, Schnell told Patch that the school has found a partner in Withers, who happened to come up to Schnell and her daughter at a Jewel and asked if he could assist them with anything.

The meeting offered Schnell an opportunity share her vision for Morton Gingerwood School.

“He had no idea what he was getting himself into,” Schnell told Patch of Withers' involvement with the school improvement project. “He thought he was donating cookies. It was probably the most expensive tray of cookies he has ever donated.”