Shipping company to cover cargo cost of replacement playground equipment after arson

Children in Mountain View are upset after a fire earlier this month destroyed parts of their playground at Mountain View Elementary School.

It probably won't be ready by the start of the school year. But a shipping company has stepped up and says it will cover the cost of shipping once new equipment is ordered.

The Anchorage School District says TOTE Maritime Alaska has offered to cover the shipping cost of the new equipment to Alaska.

. The case will be handled in the juvenile justice system, the Anchorage Police Department says.

Anchorage School District officials say the fire damage to the Mountain View Elementary School playground is estimated at $100,000.

Tuesday morning, children playing in the neighborhood say with just a few weeks of summer left they hope what was burned can be fixed by the time school starts.

By Tuesday afternoon, a crew from the district said it had just finished tearing out what caught fire, and now the charred damage is gone.

Elizabeth Clemons, whose daughter Riley will start 5th grade at the school in the fall, says her daughter's favorite class is gym.

"I think it's terrible, it's sad," Clemons said. "A lot of kids play there and you know, now they can't."

The Mountain View Community Council is working with ASD to replace the equipment. But, as of news time, Channel 2 was unable to connect with the woman spearheading the efforts to talk about the issue.