Unaccessible is Unacceptable
CINDY STARK, Teacher
So they started dreaming and started dreaming big, and I remember one of them even said, “This is not going to be easy, but we’re not looking for the easy thing, we’re looking for the right thing”.
[Students walking to school and playing on playground, music begins playing]CINDY STARK, Teacher
The whole school is multi-age
[Cindy Stark talks to students in the classroom]and teachers tend to be with groups of kids for two years. My group is a little bit different. So, about a third of them I’ve had for four years and I’ve lived with them, but several are new to the project school and to me this year as well. So, it’s kind of a mix this year.
EMMA WILD, Student
It’s a very welcoming school.
[Students collaborate in the classroom]We do lots of projects. It’s a project-based learning school.
MATEO SOTO, Student
They care a lot about how you grow instead of how good you are at the moment.
RUTH BARTLETT, Student
My favorite thing about school is working on the playground project.
[Ruth and other students discuss playground project with clipboards]SINEAD WHELAN, Student
The idea came from one of my friends, Josslyn, who’s in a wheelchair in our class.
[Students sit in circle in classroom]JOSSLYN BORDERS, Student
I asked the teacher if I could bring a book out to the playground cuz I couldn’t get on it.
[Josslyn and classmates talk near playground]I told her why and then
[Josslyn talks to classmates in classroom]one day we brought it up in the to class and that was what inspired them.
RUTH BARTLETT, Student
That just like was horrifying and our whole class was like, “We don’t want that to happen!” So then you’re like, “We should make the park accessible.”
CINDY STARK, Teacher
The first moment when they recognized that their peer could not access the playground the room became dead silent.
[Students on playground and in classroom]You could almost see their brains working and their ideas churning,
RUTH BARTLETT, Student
We just like decided it.
[Cindy Stark leads a meeting near the playground]We were just like, “Oh my gosh, that that’s a big plan. We should start planning and raising money and we have this idea and we can work up to it.”
[Students discuss in classroom, look for accessibility issues on playground with clipboards]CINDY STARK, Teacher
The project has kind of taken over across subjects so in readers workshop
[Students sit in classroom with books, students study clipboards outside]they’re learning how to dissect nonfiction text, so right now they’re reading articles about accessible playgrounds and we’re focusing on what stance to approach it as a reader – but it ties to the project.
MATEO SOTO, Student
Mostly we’re working together on everything but sometimes we’ll split into little committees and groups.
[Students measure playground elements]We did the disability awareness fair to raise awareness because we thought that would be a good first step and I helped on the playground project group.
SKYLAR JOHNSON, Student
Basically at the fair we are trying to spread awareness of different types of disabilities all across the school.
[Students on playground]MATEO SOTO, Student
We had games interactive interactive games where people could find out whether something was being inaccessible or accessible.
[Students stand in a circle and play a game] [Sign: Unaccesible is unacceptable]EMMA WILD, Student
I was helping out with the slides with lots of information about different types of disabilities – so maybe not the ones you can just see from the outside.
[Students walk back to The Project School]MATEO SOTO, Student
People were kind of surprised that how many things were inaccessible.
[White board shows brainstorming about project] [Students collaborate in classroom]CINDY STARK, Teacher
I think the heart of the kids really is that they want life to be fair.
KIRA DEFELICE, Student
During like the council meetings that people spoke up for people with disabilities and making Bloomington more aware of the inaccessibility and accessibility of places that would be a big help and push to actually making Bloomington more accessible.
[Josslyn collaborates with students on playground, students point out elements of playground]CINDY STARK, Teacher
It’s not just these school kids who use the park but it’s the whole community. It’s a downtown public park, so it would benefit everybody.
[Students play on park, discuss park]The kids want to do things, they want to be part of this. They want skin in the game. They want to raise money.
[Cindy Stark leads meeting on playground]So, they have some big dreams about what they want to do.
SINEAD WHELAN, Student
There are so many people with disabilities and so much that like they can’t do if things aren’t accessible and so I guess we’re just really passionate about about that.
[Students have meeting in classroom]JOSSLYN BORDERS, Student
Unaccessible is unacceptable
[Offscreen] CINDY STARK, TeacherSay it like you mean it!
RUTH BARTLETT, Student
Unaccessible
MATEO SOTO, Student
Unaccessible
EMMA WILD, Student
Unaccessible
SINEAD WHELAN and classmate, Students
Unaccessible
KIRA DEFELICE and SKYLAR JOHNSON, Students
Unaccessible
Students [on playground]
Unaccessible is unacceptable!
[Kira and Skylar laugh, Skylar has jazz hands] [Music fades]Naphtalia Ruth, Martha Manges and Hector Perez partnered with The Project School to document a classroom initiative to make a public park accessible. Students were inspired to start the playground project when they realized one of their classmates couldn’t play on the playground.
The video was created through The Media School’s annual Stories of Peace initiative, which pairs students with community organizations to share positive stories about the Bloomington community as part of the City of Bloomington Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Celebration Commission’s 40 Day of Peace program.