Point Fermin School Chosen for Playground Grant

The kindergarten yard at Point Fermin School is poised to get a zigzag ladder, chain climber, tube slide and monkey bars with a $25,0000 grant the school recently received from the Anne and Kirk Douglas Playground Enhancement Awards.

The elementary school was one of 30 campuses in the Los Angeles Unified School District that received the grant. Actor Douglas and his wife donated $1 million to establish a three-year, $2.5-million fund, with other contributions coming from benefactors including Mayor Richard Riordan, last spring after they learned that many school playgrounds in the school district were in disrepair.

As part of the grant, each school must come up with matching funds or contributions. Point Fermin Principal Susan Balmanno said the community has pulled together to improve the 90-year-old school.

She said donations range from an offer to haul torn-up asphalt and dilapidated equipment on the schoolyard to monetary contributions from businesses.

“We’re so grateful. We’re all the way out here near the harbor and this shows the kids that people care about kids everywhere,” Balmanno said of the school that serves 318 students. “It’s very special to us to have this tiny little school picked for a grant.”