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Oakland School Playground Gets Extreme Makeover

OAKLAND (BCN) - Students did not mince words when it came to describing what Oakland's Roosevelt Middle School looked like before its $700,000 makeover.

The cracks in the pavement and a nearby gym sorely in need of repainting looked like "a dump," as one student succinctly put it.

The new track, field and freshly painted mural unveiled at the 19th Avenue school on Wednesday was the first of several schoolyard makeovers the city is planning all over town.

The Oakland Schoolyard Initiative relies on private supplements to publicly available money to complete renovations that would be otherwise impossible during tight budget times.

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