Page 2 - Schools

Two friends on a buddy bench

Buddy bench - that simple solution to schoolyard loneliness - is catching on across the country in a number of interesting and heartwarming ways.

What is a buddy bench? Most of you by now have heard the buddy bench story. The concept was made popular in the US by first-grade student Christian Bucks after he learned about the idea from a school in Dusseldorf, Germany.

The youngster's family was scheduled to move there after his father's company planned to transfer him there.

While looking at the school's website, Christian noticed a peculiar bench that seemed to continually attract students.

Turns out, the bench was the school's official "buddy bench." It's designated as a place where a student can sit if he or she feels lonely. Then other students notice this and are encouraged to visit the student and help them make new friends.

Very straightforward, right? Christian's family never moved to Germany and the young man returned to his old school at Roundtown

Metal picnic tables from The Park and Facilities Catalog at Indiana State University

When you are the landscape manager for a major college campus, you face a variety of challenges and that's why metal picnic tables are one solution that requires less maintenance and care.

Stephanie Krull is the Landscape and Grounds Manager for a leading college - Indiana State University in Terre Haute, with a student population of 13,000 students.

Indiana State University's colorful campus

As you can imagine, with that many students, there is quite a bit of wear and tear on the grounds.

The campus covers 200 acres and is located in a fertile region with the Wabash River running nearby. The landscape is covered with a spectacular array of flowers, shrubs, grass, planters and trees. In fact, ISU is certified as a Tree Campus by the National Arbor Day Foundation and the State's Urban Forester's Office. There are more than 3,500 trees on all university properties and 2,200 on the main campus.

In addition,

The National Fire Protection Association has created codes and standards for aluminum bleachers and wooden bleachers

By Gerald Dlubala

Looking out over your stadium, it can be picture perfect as the shiny angles of the aluminum bleachers frame the manicured field.

It's the perfect venue, just the way it was all envisioned.

But are there hidden dangers within your venue?

Those bleachers will be tested in every conceivable way, and because they will be the home for every fan that comes through that turnstile, they need to be safe. They're expected and assumed to be safe whether they're stepped or jumped on, climbed or crawled on, or even just sat on as intended.

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) updates their codes and standards regarding bleachers and grandstands on an annual basis, based on input they receive throughout the year.

These standards are integral to providing and maintaining a safe, secure bleacher and grandstand environment.

Being sure aluminum bleachers are safe

Spectators on bleachers with drinks at gam

Aluminum bleachers endure a lot of use, misuse and abuse. How do you keep them safe and sound when you have so many crowds of people walking, cheering and jumping up and down on them?

There are very few structures out there that are subjected to this type of activity. And to add to the danger, a large number of bleachers are outside - subject to rain, sleet, heat and snow. Then you have the food and refreshments factor - people watching a game for three hours are going to eat and drink - and spill and drop food.

Here are some tips to consider to keep your aluminum bleachers in tip-top shape and safe for public use.

Be sure your bleachers comply with the International Building Code (IBC). These codes were created from an amalgamation of different codes and requirements in different states across the country. There's a reason these codes were enacted - to help prevent the thousands of injuries that occur on bleachers every year. Inspect bleachers

Fans about to return to the bleachers for fall sport

By Gerald Dlubala

It's fall and if you are a spectator, time to head for the bleachers. You've been tracking that big mark on your calendar - the start of football season (or soccer), and it's finally here.  You know that everybody is going to be there. And you also remember in the past how much fun it was in those bleachers with your friends, family and fellow fans.

It is tradition, after all, isn't it? Working your way up to the perfect spot, your regular spot, in the bleachers, talking and laughing while seeing familiar faces along the way. It's the perfect place to sit, visit, and watch while cheering, clapping, yelling, screaming, and doing whatever you can to help your team to victory whether you are a student, parent or just a regular fan.

A smile comes to your face just thinking about all of this, because it's that time of year. The season for the local, weekly, college and high school football games to start, and the anticipation

More than 50 million students are heading back to school - do you have adequate school picnic tables, benches, bleachers and other outdoor school site furnishings for them

School picnic tables, benches, bleachers and trash receptacles - everything a school facility manager needs, can still be shipped from The Park and Facilities Catalog in time for when most school doors fling open in September. Popular products that can be fast-tracked for shipping are available in our ParkExpress program.

ParkExpress has school site furnishings that can be shipped quickl

It's crunch time. Classrooms are about to come back to life, buses are being prepped for pickups and final preparations for the next wave of students are underway. For every facility manager with last-minute needs, don't worry. There's still time to complete your  school site furnishing checklist.

After all - according to the National Center for Education Statistics, there are now 50 million students in elementary and secondary schools

Spectators walking on bleachers that are not IBC-compliant can be hazardou

When you think about hazards at a football or basketball game, you're probably thinking the players are the only ones at risk. Actually, spectators can also get injured by an unexpected hazard: bleachers .

Think about it. Bleachers are the one thing separating you from the ground, so if they are old or weathered, they may collapse from underneath you. Aluminum bleachers need to be sturdier than regular seats because they take so much abuse from extreme weather and overly excited fans.

Besides needing to be sturdy, bleachers are also difficult to walk on. It's easy to trip or fall between the seats, especially when they are wet or icy. The likelihood of falling is even greater with damaged benches that are past due for maintenance.

Bleacher safety guidelines enacted after injuries reported

In 1999, the Consumer Product Safety Commission reported 22,100 injuries from bleachers that resulted in emergency treatment,

Fans in bleachers on a chilly da

By Gerald Dlubala

It's game day, you're about to spend the afternoon on some bleachers, and this afternoon is turning into a beauty. Picture perfect, with high, blue skies, offering those signature, gentle breezes that make you feel as if you're on vacation.

There are hordes of tailgaters out as you approach the venue. Confident and boisterous, each rowdy group enthusiastically touts their team's imminent success while enjoying food, drink and the companionship of fellow fans.

The good vibes continue as you enter and walk into the stadium. Rows and rows of smartly organized and efficiently placed seats in the bleachers greet you.

They're not only great looking, but also distinctly enveloped in alternating colors, matching those of the home team's uniforms.

The layout, design and color choice somehow ignites a feeling that you're here for some grand event, a spectacle of importance.

It's an event that draws your interest in such a way that you are compelled

Pupils on a school benc

It's back to school time and when you think about the sheer numbers of K-12 students in the US, these kids will need quite a few school benches, school picnic tables, bleachers and bike racks.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, in the fall of 2015, there were 50.1 million students sitting in public elementary and secondary schools. That doesn't even count all the private schools out there. For non-public schools, estimates run as high as five million more pupils.

The public school numbers break down to 35 million in pre-K through eighth grade. Another 15 million are in grades 9 through 12.

To manage that nation of students, you need an army of teachers. The center reports there are 3.1 million full-time teachers. That works out to a student/teacher ratio of 16:1. For private schools, the ratio is lower at 12.5:1.

School benc

In 2012-2103 there were approximately 98,500 public schools which includes 6,100 charter schools. In the fall of

Adding unique school bike racks is one way to motivate kids to use bikes

Remember when you rode a bike to school? Everybody did. Well, according to some disturbing new research, kids today are biking less than ever.

This is not good. Something must be done. Perhaps creative school bike racks could be one way to get them pedaling instead of riding.

Just one example of this problem was illustrated when a group called BikeWalkKC decided to teach bicycle safety to a group of children.

Instead of teaching of them how to bike safely, in many instances the organizers found themselves teaching the kids how to actually ride a bike.

The National Sporting Goods Association recently issued a report that said just over 10 million children in the US from 6-18 years of age biked regularly last year.

That's HALF the number from 25 years ago. That's a dramatic decline. A scary situation, considering that many kids today weigh more and do less physical activity than ever before.

According to BikeWalk.org

Rowdy fans require sturdy aluminum outdoor bleacher

Want to know why aluminum outdoor bleachers need to be heavy duty and high quality? Consider the "Bleacher Creatures" who inhabit the left corner of Yankee Stadium or bleacher "bums" for any team. These are tough crowds.

Now that Major League Baseball season 2015 has officially started those fanatical fans in the bleacher section will be at it again.

That's usually the group that is the loudest, the most dedicated and the weirdest dressed. That's where you will find the craziest costumes and the cleverest signs. Every team has them. It's not just baseball. Football certainly has its share. How about the Cleveland Brown's Dawg Pound? Green Bay Packers Cheeseheads? Dolfans in Florida? Ever see the "Black Hole" where the rowdiest members of Raider Nation in Oakland hang out? Some of those scary characters could be right out of a Mad Max movie.

And almost always, they sit in the section where the aluminum outdoors bleachers are located. These

A buddy bench can help lonely kids make new friend

Many people have heard about a buddy bench. But what is the best way to pick the right bench for this old school networking tool? (Now a phenomenon that has caught on with hundreds of schools across the US.)

If you haven't already heard about the buddy bench, here's the back story. The idea originated in Germany and was first brought to the US by a young man named Christian Bucks.

Apparently the youngster's family once considered moving to Germany. While checking out brochures on elementary schools located there, Christian noticed a bench with strange lettering positioned strategically in a schoolyard. He was curious and inquired about its purpose. That's where he learned about the power of a buddy bench.

Buddy benc

The family didn't relocate after all. But young Christian convinced the principal at his school, Roundtown Elementary School in York, PA, to add this relationship-building program to the recess area. The local news media heard

Aluminum bleachers are frequently targeted by metal thieve

Because the price of metal has risen over the years, some individuals seem to think they can make a windfall by stealing a set of aluminum bleachers from local ball fields.

There's only one thing wrong with this scenario (as many of the crooks get to contemplate while in jail).

How do you sell them? A 10-row aluminum bleacher is not something you can pawn off in an alley like a watch or a bicycle.

The only place to try to sell the scrap from aluminum bleachers is at a metal recycling center. Well guess what? The police know that too.

The country has been plagued over the past few years with ambitious yet wisdom-deficient crooks who think it's clever to steal aluminum bleachers. They spend a tremendous amount of effort removing them, hours upon hours chopping them up, and then wasting more time hauling the scrap to a recycling center.

Someone stole 40 sections of aluminum bleachers from the Oregon State University softball field.