REDMOND, OR -- As construction crews finish up remodeling work at Redmond’s new Early Learning Center (RELC), Superintendent Mike McIntosh says the district finds itself amid an unforeseen controversy over the new playground. He tells KBND News, "No swing sets! There are a lot of issues with swings: one of them is the liability to them. But, for me it was pure economics. Will a kid miss the swing set? Probably not. Because there’s always the fight of ‘you swung 10 times instead of eight times.’"

"If you drive by there, you see what I think is a wonderful play structure going up," says McIntosh. "The fall protection under it is composition rubber – it’s spongy, you can crash and burn on it. As opposed to the old pea gravel or bark chips that were never in the right spot. So, swing sets have to have the exact same thing. And, swing sets have to have the exact same thing. And, swing sets serve about four students for the exact same cost as what we can serve 50 students on a real play structure."