Tucson Orthopaedic Institute selected Van Buskirk Elementary School to receive a "dream playground" that will be designed with students' input.

The playground is expected to be built and installed by more than 150 volunteers at the school on April 21.

"We are all excited and ready to go," said Van Buskirk Principal Chandra Thomas.

"I want swings, slides, monkey bars and a plane that we can crawl through," said José Cedillo, a third-grader.

Pauline Cedillo said she just wants her son to play in a safe environment and hopes to organize car washes to raise money for the playground.

Among the reason Van Buskirk was selected by the institute to receive the playground was students' success in raising AIMS test scores.

"We began working on this four years ago when we received a failing label by the Arizona Department of Education," recalled Thomas, who at the time was a first-time principal and at the school for three months.

"We got together as a staff and community and set goals, plans and built morale among parents and teachers. We worked as a team," said Thomas.

The result was that the school received a performing plus label in 2004-2005 and 2005-2006, Thomas said. "We are gearing up to keep it going this school year," she said, explaining that parent involvement is high because parents now feel that they are a part of the school.

"We have a family center, child care room and offer nutritional and exercise classes for parents," Thomas said.

This is the third Tucson Unified School District School selected by the institute to receive a playground. The other elementary schools were C.E. Rose and Reynolds.

The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons began a campaign seven years ago to help curb playground injuries, said Dr. Lawrence R. Housman, president of Tucson Orthopaedic Institute.

More than 500,000 children are treated in hospitals and doctors' offices a year in the United States because of injuries related to playground equipment, according to the academy.

Housman said the institute's staff decided to participate in the campaign, Prevent Injuries America, and work with TUSD schools. The institute works with KaBoom, a national non-profit group that provides the expertise to design the playground that is made by Playworld.