Roanoke PTO restocks recess to help keep students playing

At Roanoke Avenue Elementary School, recess recently got a reset.

The school’s Parent-Teacher Organization has purchased two new soccer goals for students, replacing the aging single goal that had been in use for years and helping turn one of the most popular recess activities into a real game again. The PTO also launched a “recess restock” effort, collecting new outdoor and indoor recess supplies for students — soccer balls, basketballs, jump ropes, board games, puzzles, card games, Legos, chalk and other play equipment.

For Roanoke PTO President Karma Marshall, the project was about more than new balls and goals. It was about making sure students have the kind of school day children remember — time to run, play, create, compete, laugh with friends and simply be kids.

“We wanted to revamp it,” Marshall said in a phone interview Monday. “We wanted to get new stuff for the students.”

The need was visible. Some of the outdoor play equipment had been used for years. Pieces had gone missing. Soccer balls were worn down. Students were even bringing their own soccer balls from home because the school’s existing ones were no longer in good condition, the PTO president said.

“A lot of them play soccer outside during recess,” Marshall said.

The two new soccer goals cost about $1,500 combined. To help pay for them, the PTO held a pasta fundraiser that raised almost $750. The rest came from PTO funds.

For the PTO, that is exactly the point: the organization raises money from families and the community, then puts it back into the school in ways students can see and feel. On Friday morning, every fourth-graders at Roanoke got a chance to see and feel the results during recess. The kids had a blast, Marshall said.

“We help purchase stuff for the kids, but also we look for help from the community and from the parents,” Marshall said. “The funds will go down. It won’t go up unless we get help.”

The effort comes at a school where many families are already stretched. Roanoke, like the Riverhead district as a whole, serves a diverse student population, including children from low-income families and some who are homeless. The school district must spread its resources across its four K-4 elementary schools— Aquebogue, Roanoke, Phillips and Riley — the Pulaski Street Intermediate School, the middle school and the high school, leaving parent organizations to help fill in gaps that directly affect the student experience. Most schools have active PTOs engaged in the same kinds of activities as the Roanoke PTO, Marshall said.

The Roanoke PTO doesn’t expect every family to be able to contribute, Marshall said. But when families can help, even in small ways, it matters.

“If there’s a fundraiser, just purchase one thing,” she said. “You don’t have to be the top-listed one. You don’t have to sell the most cookies or the most pasta. We have 400 students. If one person purchased one thing from the fundraiser, that’s 400 items.”

Parent donations for the recess restock included several soccer balls, two basketballs, jump ropes, puzzles, board games, card games, Legos, chalk and paddle-ball-type games. The PTO is also looking ahead to possible future purchases, including basketball hoops.

The restock is not limited to outdoor play. The PTO also collected and purchased items for indoor recess, so students have games and activities available on rainy days or other inclement weather.

The PTO has also purchased educational outdoor play items, including a giant Octoplay set, a giant Polydron dinosaur set and a giant chalkboard caterpillar planned for the school’s Star Garden — an outdoor garden and learning space behind the school.

The Star Garden, named for its star shape, is used as a quiet outdoor classroom where children can read, learn, observe plants and pollinators, and spend time outside. PTO members are now working to revive the space, which needs new wood edging, rocks, landscaping fabric, plants and volunteer labor.

“It’s a project,” Marshall said. “More hands equal less work.”

The PTO’s work extends well beyond recess. The organization helps pay for assemblies, books, field trips, field day and other student activities. It also helps offset costs so more children can participate.

A field trip that might otherwise cost $15 per student, for example, may cost families about $7 because the PTO covers part of the expense, Marshall said. And when a student’s family cannot afford to pay, the PTO steps in.

“We don’t have any students left behind,” she said. “You’re going to go no matter what.”

That matters, Marshall said, because for many children, school is more than academics. It is a place of stability, friendship and freedom.

“Some of these families have so many people in a house where they might not have room to play,” she said. “Or you’re responsible for watching your other siblings and you don’t really have a chance to do something for yourself.”

School, she said, can be an outlet. “That’s what we love,” she said. “That’s what we want for them.”

PTO officers and members are volunteers, and many are working parents with full-time jobs and families of their own. They plan events, run fundraisers, seek donations, coordinate with teachers and staff, and try to explain to parents what the PTO actually does.

Marshall said some parents see repeated fundraisers and wonder why the organization is always asking for money. But the money does not go to the PTO members, she said. It goes back to students.

“It’s for your child,” she said. “It’s for the students. It’s for them to come to school and now they have a basketball or soccer ball to play with that you helped get for them.”

When her own daughter comes home excited about something new at school, she said, it reminds her why the work matters.

“I love when she talks about new things like that,” she said. “It just puts a smile on my face. And it’s not just my daughter. It’s all the students.”

The PTO is also preparing for its second annual Community Day on May 16, an event organizers hope will bring together families, local vendors, food trucks, entertainment, raffles and community resources. The event is free to attend, with money raised through raffles, food and vendor activity supporting the school. See photos from the first Community Day held last year.

The idea for Community Day grew out of an earlier Roanoke event that was just for the school. The group decided to open it to the wider community, because Roanoke Elementary School — a 102-year-old designated landmark and the oldest of the district’s school buildings — sits in the heart of Riverhead, near Main Street. Riverhead Fire Department headquarters is directly across from the school on Roanoke Avenue and Riverhead Town Hall is directly across from the school grounds on Railroad Avenue and the State Supreme Court on Griffing Avenue is visible from the school’s playground.

“We’re literally in the middle of Riverhead,” she said. “We just wanted to bring the community back together, and why not at one of the schools that’s literally in the middle of it?”

For the PTO, Community Day is both a fundraiser and a statement: Roanoke’s students are part of the larger Riverhead community, and their school experience should matter to everyone.

The PTO is hoping parents, alumni, local businesses and community members will consider supporting its work — whether by donating materials for the Star Garden, contributing recess supplies, buying a single fundraiser item, attending the PTO’s Community Day coming up May 16, volunteering time or sponsoring student activities.

“A little bit goes a long way,” Marshall said.

For the PTO, she said, the goal is simple: give students the kind of school experience they deserve.

“The students are our number one purpose,” she said. “That’s what we want to make sure we strive to do for them.”

Marshall praised the joint efforts of the Roanoke PTO board members: vice president Lindsay Raynor, secretary Leah Leonard, treasurer Melissa Miller and cultural representative Cleydi Amaya. All are parents of children attending the school.