Question about playgrounds?

graciesmurf

Am I allowed to use an elementary school's playground during the summer?  I.E. is it socially acceptable?

 

I have a public park in my area, but I'm closer to the school.

kjenkins346

Unless there is a no trespassing sign or there is a locked fence surrounding the area, I think you are okay.

RondackHiker

GhostMonkey:

Here that would get you a ticket for jumping the fence or picking the lock, so it's beyond socially unacceptable, it's illegal.I believe a lot of that is due to liability issues.nbsp;

Around here I've seen a few elementary school playgrounds without fences, and in MD we'd play on them in the evenings and on weekends. Again, no solid fence or no trespassing signs.

RondackHiker

GhostMonkey:

RondackHiker:

GhostMonkey:

Here that would get you a ticket for jumping the fence or picking the lock, so it's beyond socially unacceptable, it's illegal.I believe a lot of that is due to liability issues.nbsp;

Around here I've seen a few elementary school playgrounds without fences, and in MD we'd play on them in the evenings and on weekends. Again, no solid fence or no trespassing signs.

Yeah, ours never used to. Then one year? Fences everywhere.

 

That stinks. Those are some good playgrounds!

NotSharknado

Our school playground is open all year round. It closes at 8pm so if you're there later, then it's considered trespassing.

Smootchy

CTGirl30:

None of our elementary school playscapes are fenced and we use them regularly on weekends. So do plenty of other families here.

this.

heck, I just brought my kids to an elementary school on Tuesday to play before we watched my nieces play baseball on the diamond.

I mean, I pay city or state tax or something... my kids aren't of school age, I thought the playground was fair game. no? 

NotSharknado

CTGirl30:

auntie:

As a tax payer that would piss me off big time.Our school's playground is available, but the community parks are way better.nbsp;

Why would it piss you off? Everyone who lives in town pays taxes to support the same things.

Maybe she's referring to Ghostmonkey's post?

graciesmurf

M'kay, so this sounds like a local board type question.

proudworkingmom82

Here you can do that even during the school year like in the evenings or on weekends when the playground isn't in use.  Unless there is a sign saying not to I don't see what's wrong with it.  

MrsWindyCity

We go to our local elementary playground frequently on the weekend and plenty of other families do too. There's no sign or gate or anything like that.

Kitiara5512

Our schools you can anytime that school that school is not in session, and on school days that is an hour after the school lets out for the day.

missymo

I agree with the majority of posters.  I thought it was a no-no, especially since we also have a ton of other parks in our area, but I asked some other parents at the park and all were in agreement that it was no big deal.  

We have taken DD a few times to the playground at the pre-school she will be starting in the fall (elementary school) to get her acclimated.  There have always been other families there.  

Don't jump a fence, but if it's open, go for it.   

kjenkins346

It sounds like this can vary pretty widely, but based upon liability issues alone I've got to think that any public playground (and I would consider a school to be a public playground since it's funded by public tax dollars unless it's a private school) will either be open to the public or they will make it VERY obvious that you aren't supposed to be there (fence or signs every 5 feet) to CYA.

I would say go down there one day this summer and you'll be able to figure out pretty quickly if you aren't supposed to be there. 

At least around here things like this are considered "attractive nuisances" and it's basically the property owners responsibility to make sure that a child can't get into the area and hurt themselves. My mom used to run a daycare so she had lots of play equipment in the backyard and had to install child-proof locks on the gates to keep the neighborhood kids from trespassing, getting hurt and their parents suing her.  

Of course that didn't stop her from coming home one night to find a family where the adults had opened the gate and were playing with their children on the swings set in a fenced-in (and locked) private residence backyard.

ridesbuttons

Totally fine, IMO.  Locally no school is fully fenced so there would be no 'jumping' required.