Recess never looked so good.
Teachers and parents cut the ribbon on a $290,000 playground at PS 212 on Bay 49th Street on Monday to celebrate the Gravesend school’s new sports and exercise space, which was built over the summer and opened to students this fall.
Principal Josephine Marsella said the playground is a significant improvement over the existing schoolyard, which hadn’t been updated since before she took over the pre-kindergarten-through-fifth grade school in 2002.
“The old playground was dilapidated,” Marsella said. “Now the children have a wonderful opportunity for exercising.”
The new playground boasts a full-length basketball court, athletic field and running track, as well as new jungle gyms, tables for chess and checkers, and dedicated spaces for games like hopscotch and jump rope.
The space was built by Out2Play, an organization that’s renovated more than 100 playgrounds since 2005.
Executive Director Andrea Wenner said she responded to PS 212’s request for a playground to fit all ages.
“The school wanted a mix of activities,” said Wenner. “We tried to include [something for everyone].”
The project was funded by the Department of Education and Borough President Markowitz and the New Jersey Nets, who chipped in $25,000. The Brooklyn-bound basketball team, which also helped renovate PS 276’s playground in Canarsie earlier this year, is scheduled to move into the Barclays Center in Prospect Heights next season.
