Bluff Ridge Elementary School in Bountiful cut the ribbon Wednesday, Sept. 9, on a new all-abilities playground. Students who use wheelchairs or walkers can now play alongside classmates instead of watching from the sidelines.

The playground features a smooth surface, an accessible merry-go-round, a glider and sensory equipment, according to Davis School District. Principal Megan Fairbourn drove the project from idea to reality in roughly one year.

When Fairbourn arrived as principal, she saw that the existing playground shut out students with physical limitations. She wrote "All-Abilities Playground" on her office whiteboard and started chasing funding.

Four sources covered the roughly $205,000 cost: a community fun run raised about $10,000, the Davis Education Foundation provided a $10,000 grant, a Utah Department of Recreation grant contributed $65,000, and the Utah State Board of Education (USBE) approved a $120,000 allocation in June. The USBE share was funded in part through Federal Mineral Lease monies.

District landscape architectural coordinator Trevor Kimball helped design the space, and a contractor installed it.

Two students with physical limitations, Lydia and Jenny, tried out the equipment before the ceremony. Their parents spoke at the event.

Oswaldo Briceno, Jenny's father, said his daughter had just come home from the hospital but really wanted to attend. "There is no words to describe it as a parent but to have your kid enjoy it with other kids," Briceno said.

Sharee Petrie, Lydia's mother, told the crowd that childhood milestones look different when a child's needs are different. She called the playground a place "where every single one of them belongs."

USBE member Rod Hall, who cut the ribbon, said he hopes the project becomes a model for schools statewide. Fairbourn pitched the playground to the state board as an experiment in using facilities to improve educational quality. Educators plan to track behavior referrals, attendance, recess participation and Acadience reading growth to measure results.

Additional donors who contributed money or in-kind support included Chick-fil-A, H&S Plumbing, Minky Couture, Rich Development, Smith's, Tanner Clinic and Walmart.

Educators have not announced a timeline for publishing outcome data.