LAKE PLACID — Lake Placid Elementary School officials are currently raising funds for phase 2 of their playground project to cover the $100,000 price tag.

The last major improvements at Paw Print Park — as the playground was dubbed at the time — were completed after two years of fundraising and construction in October 2012, when the current fourth-graders were in kindergarten.

The Playground Project Committee co-chairs, school Principal Sonja Franklin and parent Zach Clark, understand that phase 1 is still fresh in the community’s collective memory.

“That’s our biggest hurdle,” said LPES Principal Sonja Franklin, co-chair of the Playground Project committee. “I wasn’t here when that happened, and I don’t know what was thought of when they went into it, but realistically speaking, it’s not meeting the needs of all the students, and we need something that meets the needs of all our students.”

The new-and-improved playground will be inclusive, designed for children with a wide spectrum of abilities and special needs.

“I’m not talking just a physical handicap like a wheelchair,” Franklin said. “I’m talking about a variety of things, whether we’re talking about that autistic child that needs to block out all the sensory stimuli, or if we’re talking about the child that has a low tone balance that can’t really walk on a balance beam but needs to exercise those parts.”

The special-needs population at the LPES is about 24 percent of the student body, according to Franklin.

Phase 2 began last year, Franklin’s first year as principal, when the staff conducted a student survey.

“I asked them what it is they liked about our playground, what it is they wished we had at our playground and what is it they don’t even see why we have it,” Franklin said. “So really this is a playground that’s designed by the children, for the children with exactly what they want in it.”

There was one overriding message that came out of the survey.

“They said they want playground equipment that all their friends can play on, because the playground we have out there is not really accessible to someone with special needs,” Franklin said. “And it’s not designed for people with special needs.”

In addition, the students wanted playground equipment that is colorful and bright, something inviting, not the wooden Adirondack-themed equipment that is currently there. The feeling was, “We have that in our backyard.”

For phase 2, some parts of the current playground will remain, and some will be replaced. The swings, sandbox, slides and outdoor classroom will remain. Some features, such as the rock maze, will be replaced with colorful plastic equipment.

“We find that those (rocks) are slippery,” Franklin said. “Our stumps that are meant to be jumped from stump to stump, those will be removed.”

After the survey was completed, the school created a seven-member Playground Project Committee, which is working with PlayWorld to design phase 2 of the playground project, which will cost about $100,000.

When the committee reaches $75,000, the Uihlein Foundation will donate the remaining $25,000. A number of fundraising activities are being planned, including grant writing, a bottle drive at the North Elba Recycling and Transfer Station in October and November, a penny drive, appeals to community organizations and the alumni association, and an Adirondack Gives campaign for $2,500 that was launched on Oct. 20 (https://adirondackgives.org/campaigns/lake-placid-elementary-school-playground-project).

This weekend — Sunday, Nov. 6 — Wiseguys at 11 School St. will host a Sip and Shop benefit for phase 2 of the playground project from 2 to 7 p.m. There will be complimentary hors d’oeuvres, a cash bar and raffles, along with local artisans and vendors.

LPES staff have already seen some success at the playground with the purchase of two blue and gold plastic swings, which replaced two of the nine plain black swings. The new ones cost $800 each, and they’ve been a popular attraction.

“There are lines already to use these swings because it’s something bright and colorful,” Franklin said. “It’s inviting.”