Nationwide playground network to serve disabled

? Shallon Kovac loves her school’s new playground, which is designed so that children with disabilities and those without can play together.

“Awesome,” the 15-year-old with Down syndrome said repeatedly last week while leading visitors on a tour of the playground, rushing from sandbox to climbing wall to slide to rocking boat.

The playground opened in June at the Washtenaw Intermediate School. It was the 75th playground to open under the sponsorship of the Connecticut-based National Center for Boundless Playgrounds.

Boundless Playgrounds can be found in 21 states and Ontario. By year’s end, 11 more are scheduled to open.