POWNAL – From a cursory glance, the playground at Pownal Elementary School looks like any other playground – a collection of slides, swings, seesaws and sandboxes that sit behind the school, as they have for nearly 40 years.

But Pownal resident and parent Erica Giddinge she sees an opportunity.

“This could be a place for the entire community, not just the kids at the elementary school,” said Giddinge, 35, the mother of two. “We have a number of home-schooled kids and people with grandchildren in the area. I want them to be welcome here.”

Giddinge is a member of the Pownal Elementary School Playground Improvement Committee, a collection of parents and faculty that hope to renovate the playground into a modern, mixed-use space to serve the community and, most importantly, the students of Pownal Elementary. To aid the effort, the group is hosting a two-day yard sale at the school on Friday and Saturday.

According to Giddinge, the playground is antiquated and was built long before advances in technology and education rendered the slides and seesaws of yesteryear obsolete. She envisions a playground dedicated to an interactive experience that encourages imagination, physical activity and discovery. Giddinge is trying to do this at a minimal cost by taking existing elements of the playground and adding to it.

“I think the important thing is that we’re trying to do this outside the budget process,” said Pownal Elementary School Principal Lisa Demick. “We are using a can-do spirit.”

The school was built in 1961, and Demick believes the playground equipment followed a few years after. A few additions have been made through the years, including a popular pirate ship structure, but prior ad hoc playground committees disbanded quickly due to a lack of funding.

“This time, we decided to use the students’ suggestions,” said Demick. “We wanted them to drive the discussion because they are the ones using it.”

To accomplish, this Giddinge helped design a survey for the students, mostly fourth-graders, to rank and choose the types of things they wanted. Aside from the occasional humorous suggestion – sword fighting was one idea – the students have embraced the challenge.

“While some kids may want a rollercoaster, we do understand the insurance and liability concerns,” said Demick. “We want the playground to be about interactive learning. The kids even do a good job with the free space and using their imaginations.”

As part of the process, the fourth-grade class brainstormed ideas using realistic and safe examples of what the playground may need. The students then presented the ideas, which ran the gamut from traditional playground structures such as a jungle gym, monkey bars and swings, to the more exotic suggestions of a fireman’s pole, frog pond or zip line.

Whatever is chosen, the committee is hoping to have the renovation completed within a year, and has intentionally not put a specific dollar amount on the project, which will rely on mostly volunteer labor and even repurposed building materials.

For Jim Donoghue, who has taught at Pownal Elementary for 30 years, the upgrade is long past overdue.

“Not to say what we have isn’t nice, I’m kind of partial to it actually, but it really is time for new additions,” he said.

Pownal Elementary School has about 100 students ranging from pre-kindergartners to fifth-graders. The middle school students attend either Durham Community School or Freeport Middle School. In addition to core subjects, students also receive instruction in Spanish, technology, art, music, physical education, library and health. The kindergarten class has 40 children, which increases the need for a larger and better-equipped playground as enrollment increases through young families moving to Pownal for its rural charms and proximity to both Portland and Lewiston-Auburn.

Giddinge hopes the playground renovation will become a rallying point for the Pownal community and an opportunity to achieve a goal outside of the constraints of school budgets and the politics that can surround them. One idea Giddinge has is to create an outdoor performance area on the east side of the school that could be used for musical performances, plays or talks. The opportunities are endless, she said, and hopes people remember their own experiences as young students.

“Everyone had a playground when they were a kid,” said Giddinge. “I want people to feel welcome, even if they don’t have children.”

Pownal Elementary School fourth-graders Nathan Giddinge, left, and Cooper Stoddiford enjoy the swing set behind the Pownal Elementary School on a recent afternoon. Parents are trying to raise money to renovate the playground, which has equipment dating back to the 1960s.