LOXLEY, Ala. — In a few weeks, the playgrounds at Loxley Elementary School will be buzzing with swarms of kids climbing up, over, and under the swings and slides.

But, all those kids used to give Principal De Ann Ramey a lot of worry.

“The kids were getting lovely redwood splinters when they played on the equipment,” said Ramey.

Despite good care, the centerpiece of the the school’s play yard for the youngest students, the “Pre-K to 2” playground, has problems. The “fort,” a combination of slide, swings and climbing area, was getting splintery right where the kids touched it. Ouch.

The solution came when Ramey got some help from the Loxley Public Works Department. The town sent Crew Boss Herman Hudson, and workers Darrell Hayes and Kerr Williams to refurbish the equipment with “Trex” synthetic boards in areas where the kids touch.

The trio spent three days at the school, completely dismantling the equipment and replacing the worst boards with Trex. The trio also filled the playground with shredded rubber, recycled from used tires,

According to the company Web site, Trex is “made of a unique combination of wood and plastic fibers” that makes use of wood and fibers reclaimed from wood pallets, sawdust and used grocery bags. It promises to last longer than normal wood, and can be handled much like regular wood.

“The problem is,” Ramey said “is that it costs three times as much (as regular wood).”

While Ramey decided to use some of the money the school received from the Strawberry Festival to pay for the boards, the school could not have afforded the labor involved in refurbishing the play yard if the town had not stepped in. A number of the Trex boards were donated by Gulf Shores Builders Supply

“Our custodian is very busy with other projects getting the school ready for the kids,” said Ramey, who added that she is grateful to Loxley Mayor Billy Middleton for arranging for the workers to come to the school.

“The town has been very good to us,” said Ramey.

“We replaced some of the more questionable boards with new boards,” said Hudson, adding, “The structure has the original joists and flooring.”

“We only spent three days working on it,” laughed Hayes, who added that the crew had to take the fort completely apart, with the apparatus “stripped down to the framing” in order to replace the questionable boards.

For Williams, working at Loxley Elementary was a homecoming of sorts — he was a student at the school when it went through the eighth grade. He was proud of the work the crew had done

“I know the slide won’t fall,” said Kerr. “We had a 230-pound person test it out.”

Ramey was not one to let the chance to get one more thing done slip away.

“We have a cover for the slide,” she said, explaining that the slide gets very hot in the full sun as she showed the cover to the three workmen.

The cover, designed to look like a fanciful caterpillar, was supposed to fit over the slide. It was ventilated so the play area did not get too hot.

But Hudson noticed right away that fastening the cover to the slide could be a problem.

Ramey explained there was more hardware in the box the cover came from, and aside from taking the cover out of the box it was all there.

“I think we have something,” said Hudson, gesturing to Hayes and Williams.

It was time to get to work.