While the previous lawn chairs were purchased directly by ASB, the new order came from a discretionary account, according to Principal Phil Winston.
“The plan is to work with ASB and if there is money left over at the end of the year, either they pick up the cost or we split it,” Winston said.
The chairs were unlocked and available to students for the first time Wednesday of last week, showing up in bulk sometime the morning prior.
“We ordered something like a hundred, but I don’t know how many actually showed up,” Winston said.
Winston later confirmed that around 70 chairs were purchased for $20 a piece.
The new chairs are Ergo Adirondack Chairs from Adams Manufacturing Corp. A majority of them are in white with about a third in Hunter Green. With around eight blue lawn chairs remaining, the new additions bring a variety of colors to the Quad. With Adam Manufacturing Corporation’s Spine-Friendly Support, the chairs give students extra lumbar support for more comfortable seating.
The student body reacted mostly positively to decision to purchase new chairs.
“The lack of chairs definitely changed how I spend my lunch and prep,” junior Kristen DeStefano said. “The grass would sometimes be wet or muddy, so you can’t sit on the ground. It would be good for Paly to have a constant supply of chairs. It keeps everyone in the Quad – the student body is together. Lunch is a lot more fun when there is somewhere to sit.”
Junior Jensen Hsiao echoed this opinion.
“I felt that we did not have a place to sit. And without anywhere to sit, you can’t eat your lunch,” Hsiao said.
Winston, in an story last May, seen here, reported that he had the idea of bringing chairs to the student population for a long time, believing it would create a “terrific environment.” Winston expressed that he believed the chairs could be around along time, observing students putting their chairs away at the end of lunch.
“That’s a sign of a strong community,” Winston said. “They [the students] care about the community; they care about the environment.”
However, despite whatever “community” the student body showed last spring, the blue chair population shrank from 100 to single digits by today’s date. Brocken, stolen, and other unaccounted misplacement of chairs add up to the total loses the school suffered.
With a new order of even nicer lawn chairs, only time will tell if they experience the same fate as their disastrous predecessors.
“If they get stolen or wrecked, then that’s what it is,” said Winston.