TUCSON, Ariz. - With a new school year about to start they are celebrating safety at TUSD's Borton Elementary School.
A generous donation added a fence that brings a new freedom to a special project there.
The new fence removes a barrier to learning at TUSD's Borton Magnet Elementary School. The school is proud of it's environmental learning laboratory---a patch of land designed to help students understand and appreciate nature.
But human nature made it hard to use the lab safely. Intruders from areas nearby would camp in the desert landscape.
Fifth grader Milo Peters says, “There were people living in here. I don't blame them. Because they're only places to go with water but it's just not safe for kids to be around people that we don't know."
The old fence would barely slow anybody down. It was chain link and only about four feet tall. The new fence is ten feet of solid steel.
The Pascua Yaqui Nation donated $52,000 to build the fence.
Milo's Peters mom Jen says the outdoor learning environment was one of the main reasons they enrolled in Borton.
"And we noticed certainly from when our son was in kindergarten to last year when he was a fourth grader that there was a declining use of BELL because of concerns about safety. And so we're really proud that our community came together and made this fence happen.">
Teacher Stephanie Pederson says the fence gives students more freedom to explore nature.
“They need that space to kind of explore in a more free sense. So that they're not always having to walk in a line or, and this fence allows us that opportunity. We have ways to call kids back we have ways to make sure that they're that they're safe."
