OXFORD – A McDonough mom is pushing the Oxford Academy and Central School District to remove what she says is a harmful playground surface after her 12-year-old son was injured behind the middle school last month.
Ann-Margaret Simpson’s son, Bryon, a fifth grader at Oxford Primary, stumbled forward getting off a swing set April 18 and upon breaking his fall in the surrounding mulch, was stabbed by a 4-inch piece of wood in the right hand.
Simpson wants the district to replace the wood mulch, used at both the middle and primary schools, with sand or shredded rubber, she told Superintendent Randall Squier and the Board of Education Monday.
“Mulch is supposed to be thin, fine thread wood,” said Simpson, pointing out a number of roughly four- and five-inch shards on the ground where her son was injured. “This is not.”
Bryon underwent one and a half hours of surgery at Chenango Memorial Hospital to remove the piece from his hand. He also recently completed two weeks of whirlpool and physical therapy at Lourdes Hospital in Binghamton.
“I put my hands out to break my fall. When I got up, I went to wipe the wood pieces off my hands. I realized it was inside of my hand,” said Bryon, who said he is fearful younger children might sustain worse injuries if nothing changes. “I could picture a two-year-old running and tripping and getting one in the eye or something like that.”
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