Rau Elementary School Fundraisers

This spring, locals of the Sidney area will be able to help a longstanding benefit to children of the community acquire, upgrade and install their playground equipment. Rau Elementary School will be having two fundraisers before summer break to help with the much-needed improvements.

This Saturday, April 27, there will be a garage sale in the Rau School Gymnasium. It will be from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. They will be selling desks, chairs, curriculums, P.E. items, school supplies, office supplies and much more. May 4, the following Saturday, there will be an auction at the school. At 11 a.m. the old playground equipment will be up for auction. There will be a break at noon for a free will offering BBQ. The auction resumes at 1 pm with approximately twenty-five homemade pies made by members of Rau School families to auction off. All proceeds will go towards new playground equipment and installation costs.

According to their website, http://www.rauschool.net, "The mission of Rau Elementary School is to create a safe, positive, and challenging learning environment for all children so that they become lifelong learners." Rau School has been around for several decades. The previous playground equipment was installed in 1983 and has had very few changes since then. PTO member, Jerrian Franzen said, "Except for a couple pieces, the equipment is thirty-six years old." In a letter sent out to various businesses and families, it is mentioned that Rau School is finding that their equipment is unsafe. They also have no equipment with handicap accessibility. Plans are underway already to purchase, resurface and install new, updated equipment for the students. The plan was split into two phases.

Phase one is purchasing the main playground structure, cover the resurfacing cost and labor to install both. Thanks to some student-based fundraising (that involved a lot of chocolate Jerrian told me), a large donation from Rau School, local businesses and community members the main playground structure was purchased and delivered April 1. They are now in the process of raising the $25,000 needed for resurfacing and installation. So far they have over $9,000 raised towards that goal. The PTO is hopeful of reaching the goal for Phase one next month. Phase two will include purchasing additional smaller structures such as swings and a merry-go-round, resurfacing costs and labor to install them. The phase two equipment will be handicap accessible. It is estimated to cost an additional $65,000 and they are aiming for completion in the summer of 2020.

Currently, Rau Elementary is a small school of fifty kindergarten to 6th-grade students taught by six teachers but the number of students can change from year to year. It is located at 12138 County Road 350, off of highway 23, a little over four miles southeast of Sidney.