Greening a school can look a lot different depending on your budget and school needs. Here are examples of schools in Los Angeles that altered their campuses to enhance their outdoor spaces and where kids have an opportunity to learn FROM nature, not just about nature.

Principal Brad Rumble had a vision to depave 5,000 sq. ft. of asphalt and replace it with a habitat garden. The elementary school not only has a thriving wildlife scene but a robust outdoor curriculum, which three years later after being implemented, improved science test scores from 9%-53%.
-LATIMES

Esperanza Elementary sits in the middle of the densely populated neighborhood of Westlake/ MacArthur Park. In 2016 with the help of the LA Audubon Society, Natural History Museum and other partners, the school developed a native habitat in one corner of the campus which had previously been mostly asphalt. By 2017 it was designated a bird hot spot and had attracted a burrowing owl that has become their mascot! In 2021, in partnership with Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust, the school has been awarded a $1.5 million grant to green the rest of the campus. Watch a KCET Video about the school.

The final design replaced 21,000 sq. ft. of asphalt with native plants, permeable surfaces, and grass. 24 shade trees were planted and a new learning garden created. After the school grounds were converted, many physical activities were added to recess in addition to popular ball sports—tag, chasing, gymnastics, jumping, climbing and making up games. The number of kids who were not doing anything at recess fell dramatically. - Claire Latané READ MORE.

The Walgrove Wildlands is an 25,000 sq. ft. urban eco-lab, native ecosystem, and National Wildlife Federation Monarch Butterfly Way Station. The Walgrove Wildlands were created with the following guiding principles:

•Create a schoolyard habitat that restores native species and works towards recreating a native ecosystem on campus. 

•Create a hands-on, outdoor laboratory in which students learn about science, ecology, and environmental stewardship. 

•Pursue a joint-use agreement to make greened area available to the community after school hours.

•Encourage the community to take ownership of the habitat and to participate actively in its maintenance through regularly scheduled (monthly) work days. READ MORE and watch a video about their process.

The Amigos De Los Rios organization has greened several schools in eastern Los Angeles. Basset High School is located in LA Puente, in the San Gabriel watershed. This $700,000 project planted over 2700 native, drought-tolerant trees and plants to enhance biodiversity, and absorb storm water and run-off. Through bioswales, and strategic permeable surface retrofit, the campus now collects, capture, and infiltrate storm water from campus. The urban forest sequesters carbon and reduces the heat island effect.

Plymouth Elementary located in the Monrovia School District, integrated natural infrastructure solutions to improve infiltration and planted over 90 trees and 800 shrubs. Water-smart enhancements included permeable pavement, native habitat bioretention areas with infiltration planters, rain gardens, bioswales, and Low-Impact Development planters. These project elements will protect and improve water quality, enhance water supply, and address watershed health and drainage challenges to mitigate ongoing flood risk.

The Environmental Charter High School, a Green Ribbon School, was founded by Alison Diaz. Diaz wanted to focus on connecting low income students with the environment because they are disproportionality affected by industrial contamination and lack of access to parks and open space. The school doesn’t just recycle and compost, but tackles the environment through big, systems thinking. Student participation ranges from helping design their campus, growing food, managing the closed loop aquaponics system, running a bicycle repair shop, and taking care of the chickens and rabbits.

With the support from the California State Water Resources Control Board, the Drought Response Outreach Program for Schools (DROPS) provided school campuses with the opportunity to implement and demonstrate the multi-benefits of low-impact development (LID) including: reducing stormwater pollution, water conservation, water supply augmentation, energy conservation, and increased awareness of water resources. This project involved the installation of three rain barrels, 6,550 square feet of bioswales, replacing 2,350 square feet of stormwater planters and 3,743 square feet of drought tolerant landscaping on campus. The newly constructed BMPs were able to capture over 500,000 cubic feet of runoff per year. READ MORE.

Another DROPS campus, this project involved the installation of 8,024 square feet of bioswales, allowed for the replacement of 9,455 square feet of stormwater planters and climate-wise landscaping, and installing 12,160 square feet of permeable pavement on campus, mostly in the school parking lots. The newly constructed BMPs were able to capture over 500,000 cubic feet of runoff. READ MORE.

A third DROPS school, the construction on Normandie’s campus included the installation of four above-ground cisterns, which are designed to hold 6,000 gallons of water. Also installed were 7,027 square feet of bioswales, replacement of 4,000 square feet of turf and 2,600 square feet of impermeable pavement with 8,745 square feet of stormwater planters and climate-wise landscaping, and installing 9,928 square feet of permeable pavement. The newly constructed BMPs were able to capture 200,000 cubic feet of runoff. READ MORE.

Franklin Elementary in Glendale Unified, used a $1 million dollar urban greening grant from Prop 84 to build stormwater infrastructure such as bioswales & permeable paving, as well as increase vegetation with living fences, and 2500 low-water native plants and trees to provide shade, and food for songbirds, pollinators and monarch butterflies. READ MORE.

School districts across the country have passed district wide greening initiatives that allow for more streamlined funding and implementation of green schoolyards, increasing the efficacy and rate at which these projects can happen.

In 2001 the SF Green Schoolyard Alliance was founded to support the “creation of outdoor learning areas” in the district’s schools and secured almost $14 million in voter-approved bonds through Proposition A bonds. 99% of the schools have been greened with $100,000-$150,000 being spent on each school in SFUSD. Each school develops its own master plan and designs and constructs the new outdoor spaces. READ MORE.

In 2019, the OUSD Board of Education unanimously approved endorsing the development of green schoolyards. “School grounds will have living schoolyards that promote children’s health, well-being and joy; and function as ecologically rich community schools that connect children and their neighborhoods to the natural world right outside their classroom door, everyday,” the policy states. READ MORE.

Portland Public Schools’ goal is to provide all PPS students with daily opportunities to interact with, learn about, and play in nature. As a result, over 80% of PPS schools have active green schoolyard elements on campus. The Facilities Department works with schools to design and utilize schoolyards that bring the classroom outside. PPS partners with organizations to bring schoolyards to life with hands-on, standards-based outdoor education. READ MORE.

Space to Grow transforms Chicago schoolyards into beautiful and functional spaces to play, learn, garden and be outside. Schoolyard transformations prioritize physical activity, outdoor learning and community engagement. The green schoolyards incorporate landscape features that capture a significant amount of rainfall, helping keep the city’s water resources clean and resulting in less neighborhood flooding. READ MORE.

Milwaukee Public Schools, together with generous funders and community partners, have announced a multimillion dollar investment in Milwaukee schools and neighborhoods. Starting in 2019, the District will reduce pavement and increase green space at MPS schools. Additional improvements will capture storm water, add outdoor classrooms, plant trees, create school gardens, and create curriculum that will incorporate ecology, sustainability, and freshwater sciences. The improvements will impact neighborhoods, provide community access, and improve the quality of life in the city. READ MORE.

For the past decade, California Bay Area-based non-profit Green Schoolyards America has been the leader in the green schoolyards movement. They have helped to define the many intersecting benefits that greening can provide for the health of students, teachers, and the environment. Visit their Outdoor Learning Initiative library to see case studies of schools and school districts across the country greening their yards and adopting outdoor learning.