Neighborhood Schools = Neighborhood Places?

An urban planner I am not (next time!).  However.  It occurred to me recently, as we decide where to send our first child to kindergarten this fall, that until the kindergarten round-up at our neighborhood school, I had never been in the place.  My fault?  Sure, to a degree.  But really, why hadn't I been in?  Because other than sending my child to school there eventually, there was no reason for me to go there. 

And sure, you could blame me for not checking it out sooner, joining the PTA, whatever.  And you might be a little bit right.  But.  I work 4 days a week and have two kids in another child care/school which I L-O-V-E and am plenty involved in.  So the idea of being involved in a second school where my kids don't attend - truly, mamas, not enough time in the day for that. 

So, to my little urban planning "aha" moment.  And rest assured, I know I am surely not the first person to have these thoughts.  Why isn't the playground at our neighborhood elementary school so great that we go there to play (some are, I know; not ours)?  Why isn't there early child care on the same property (no need for PPS to provide it), so we're intimately familiar and connected with the place?  Why aren't our neighborhood association meetings held there?  And what about locating one of those casual co-op indoor playparks for the toddler & pre-K set in the basement?  I know that outside groups do use the school facilities, but if I'm the parent-to-be, why not the sorts of activities that might attract me, my kids, my family?

There are some strong supporters of attending neighborhood schools around town, with some compelling reasons, and the School Board has recently assessed its transfer policy.  So why not connect families to their neighborhood schools naturally from the very beginning, so that they really want to go there because it feels like home: they know the facilities, the other families, the teachers & classrooms, the library, and generally feel connected to it as a meaningful part of their neighborhood, where all parts of the community come together?    

Am I off the mark to think that neighborhood families could use the school library - it's loaded with children's books, right?  To picture an elementary school with infant & toddler care on-site, in the neighborhood, down the hall from older siblings?  I'm getting a little misty-eyed here, mamas.  Is this utopia, or could it be Portland?  Or is it Portland, and I've just missed all these warm, fuzzy happenings at the local school because I've been, uh, otherwise occupied for the last five years.  Straight.

Want to stay in touch with PPS?  Sign up for the PPS Pulse e-newsletter.  Now maybe I won't miss so much!

Comments

[abby]

It's funny to hear this described as urban planning, because that's exactly how things worked in the town of 800 where I grew up. The school had the facilities, so that is where people came together. It does foster community and a feeling that the school itself is central to life in the town. I think it's a great idea for neighborhoods in the city, for all the reasons you say. Of course, I am back in a small town again, so I guess I'd better go check out the schools.....

[LTF]

quick foll-up: I toured our n'hood school yesterday since my son enters k-garten this fall, and they have a pre-school storytime IN the school library! very cool, but the librarian said she's among very few who do it, and she's never advertised. So I got the info and plan to submit it to our neighborhood association newsletter. She says mostly the attendees are families with older kids in the school, but it seems like a great way to bring families with young children into the school sooner. She also reported that the community at large cannot check out books, unless they have a 'rising' kindergartner. Hmmm.. another opportunity to include n'hood families in the school before they face the kindergarten decision?

[Hau]

In our old neighborhood, we often frequented the playground at our neighborhood school. It was a natural gathering place for people in the neighborhood. On any given weekend morning, alongside the children playing, there were the roller derby women, street fighters, Tai Chi, and Irish Dancers gathered on the black top in their respective groups to practice. For a while, one of our neighbors convened pick up soccer games. However, we were told during one of those games that you needed the schools permission to play in the fields. Hmm, not very community-minded in my opinion.

We also attended many birthday parties under the veranda at the playground. The downside was there were no bathrooms like most neighborhood parks. There were so many times we would rush home as soon as we got to the park because my son had to go #2.

We haven't had the same opportunity to explore and to establish our sense of belonging since moving to our new neighborhood and I don't doubt that that's one of the reasons we don't feel the same affinity for our neighborhood school. I do hope that in due time we feel that same connection. I like the concept of schools being neighborhood places, and that's one thing I'd really like to see happen.

[KMat]

At Faubion, where my oldest is now in kindergarten, we often come across families of toddlers on the playground after school. It is also a SUN school, with classes for adults. I believe that the nearby Concordia U. also uses some of Faubion's fields for soccer practices. We also see neighbors running their dogs in the fields--often during school hours (or at least during drop-off/pick-up times).

Which brings me to the obvious problem (at least to my cynical mind)...how are we as a school controlling access to the schools, and hence to the children in the schools?

Who is to say one of those loose-running dogs isn't going to break away from it's person and jump all over a student?

What if we do open the libraries to the public--can't someone just use the open library as an excuse to have access to children?

Sure, we could probably instate a rule like, "No adults in library without a child," but with the schools already under-staffed, who can we expect to enforce the rule? Not to mention the fact that classes do use the library--wouldn't a stream of people coming in and out be disruptive?

While I would love to see our schools being more of a neighborhood place, it seems like an unfair burden to place on our already over-taxed schools.

I believe starting to hold neighborhood meetings in the schools is a great place to start. Perhaps during these meetings is a good time to have a volunteer from the neighborhood staff the school library--then parents can bring their kids to the meetings, but the kids can be entertained/out of the way in the library.

I know at Faubion there is a set of bathrooms near an exit door, but kind of removed from the rest of the school (think of the short side of an L-shaped wing). If there was some way to gate off access to the rest of the school building, perhaps when someone was having a b-day party, or whatnot, at the school playground, they could apply for a permit for bathroom access. This would control outside access to the bathrooms (ie. if the bathrooms were always open, who knows what kind of people would be using them), create a (very) little slush fund--perhaps to pay for the people who will lock/unlock the bathrooms--and still allow parties to be held in a comfortable manner.

I think another aspect to making the schools more of a community gathering space would be the installation of picnic tables somewhere (hopefully near the playgrounds) on the school property. The schools could possibly use the tables for al fresco dining during the warm weather, or a class could use them for an outside classroom--maybe for messy projects involving paint, or rice, or whatever--or for "nature observations" (ie. in 20 min. we saw 4 crows, 8 sparrows, 1 squirrel, etc.).

I think this is a great idea, but one that would need to be implemented in very small steps, as funding and safety regulations would allow.

[Annie]

If your neighborhood school is a SUN Community School (or even if it isn't), you should definitely be checking out the different opportunities to get involved at the school. SUN Community Schools are intended to transform schools into community centers. You can find a list of the sites at www.sunschools.org

[Kathleen]

It was interesting to see this post tonight, as my 16 mo and I spent some time on our local elementary playground this afternoon. I met a mom whose daughter had just started kindergarten this year and was telling me about the parent supported art and music programs. Isn't there a significant incentive for the schools to engage parents like me who have a vested interest in supporting and maintaining these kinds of programs in the school? I would gladly support theses programs now so they can grow and thrive for my daughter and beyond. I'd like to learn more about the structure of the schools. How are decisions made? How exactly is funding determined? Can anyone recommend a resource for this kind of information? Thanks.

[Kirstin]

I was a school librarian in an area public school, and we also did story times for preschoolers--usually about 3 in the late winter and early spring to get the kids familiar with the school, and the kindergarten teacher attended, as well, so they could meet her before summer. At the last session the kids planted seeds, which was always a nice thing to ask the kids about in the fall when they returned.

It's also possible to reach out to your elementary school if they haven't had the time or inclination to do it with you. I know that as the coordinator of a neighborhood play group I subscribe to our neighborhood school's monthly newsletter (it comes via email), and when I saw they were having a book fair called the library to see if there was a low-usage time we could attend with 2-yr-olds. The library staff was more than happy to have us--the kids who attended got to see the school, they had a good assortment of preschool age books at the fair, and the proceeds went to the school. We also try to make a point of publicizing their big events and fundraisers in play group to help families be involved earlier. There have been some great activities for younger kids to attend--concerts, family yard sales, art fairs, pumpkin sales and Halloween treats, a parade...sometimes you just have to take a look at what's already happening and find a way younger children can participate. I don't think it's all the responsibility of the school to do it--they really do have a lot on their plate trying to best serve the families that are already there. In an ideal world they'd have staff, funds and time to reach out, but since they often don't, it doesn't take that much effort for a few preschool families to step up to fill the void. In my experience, the school will be quite receptive to having you.

[LTF]

It's nice to hear that they'll be receptive to having me. I guess it's daunting to think of doing it all myself while simultaneously being involved in another school, though of course there are many families with multiple kids in different schools! I know the schools are busy with the students and families they directly serve, and it's a good reminder that their time is limited and *should* be focused on the current students.

I guess I just wish they did do more outreach, coordination with the n'hood association for outreach, etc... maybe I'm just being dreamy. it sounds like the SUN program and even the current housing-schools effort is doing some of this and I plan to check those out. But if PPS and a lot of parents want neighborhood kids to attend neighborhood schools, then I think there is a real incentive to do the outreach, create the link early that makes families naturally attend the local school. Some reasons for this post were to see what IS happening that I - and others - might not know about, ansd to think about real constraints, imagined constraints, and maybe find a few little ideas that can actually happen, or be brought to the table when the 10 schools get rebuilt. ike at Rosa Parks.

And another idea: add community gardens to the school yard if there's space, too! Is that happening? Not at our school, but that's just one...

[Steve R.]

PPS has effectively encouraged families to transfer out of neighborhood schools for decades, particularly in poor and working class parts of town.

Now that our inner residential core is undergoing massive socio-economic shifts, it is incumbent on us to rebuild the communities that have been scattered by the polices of PPS.

The plain truth is that nobody currently in PPS leadership is seriously considering changing the student transfer policy.

But if we come back en masse to our neighborhood schools, and reclaim them as centers of our communities, the funding comes with us.

We need more pushy parents to come back and help make things better for all students.

Who wants to have to drive their kids across town every day, just to get what most of us took for granted as kids?

Isn't every child entitled to a quality education in his or her neighborhood public school?

[Kathleen]

If any of you are feeling inspired about ways to connect with your local schools I wanted to share a potential resource. I oversee a program at Metro called Nature in Neighborhoods capital grants program. The funds are from the voter-approved 2006 Natural Areas bond. Grants are available for innovative, community-driven projects which increase access to nature. Since the funds are from bonds, the projects must be on public lands. School sites may be ideal locations for the right project. The projects must also include a capital improvement. The web address is www.metro-region.org/capitalgrants. I'd be happy to answer any questions.

[Molly]

Another opportunity to get involved in through the school wellness policy. Each school should have a group of parents, teachers, and students that address school wellness issues and implement the school wellness policy that can be found on the PPS website. This goes way beyond the school lunch program, but that is often the first thing people want to address. In fact, the wellness policy encourages school gardens, which someone brought up in an earlier post. There is some work happening to get gardens at schools, but funding is an issue and it takes a lot of volunteer effort to maintain a garden since the main growing season occurs when schools are closed for the summer. I would encourage those interested to contact their local school and ask about the school wellness group and how to get involved.

[LTF]

One idea is to site a community garden on school property and then let the school have one of the plots. That way it is maintained by the community mostly (lovely but not much work for the school community), plus it brings the community into the school area. While someone earlier noted that as a potential downside vis-a-vis safety, I might be naive enough to think that gardeners are generally good to have around, more eyes and ears on school property. A woman above noted some grants for this; could be a good connection.

[elizabeth]

I Love the idea (community= school). It makes so much sense. I hate to be a bummer about such a great idea but one of my first thougts (without any direct PPS experience yet) is that there seems to be a sense that the schools are struggling just to provide the basic education for students. I agree with the idea that it would enrich the community (and the school) but I guess I get stuck thinking about the precarious position schools seem (again no direct experience here yet) to be in in terms of funding etc.

maybe it is a chicken-egg scenario though?

[hau]

As I was perusing the Portland Public Schools site to figure out kindergarten enrollment dates, I stumbled upon a Civic Use of Buildings (CUB) reservation system for schools. You can find it here: http://www.pps.k12.or.us/news/events.php

Who knew?