"Space to Grow in Austin," Austin Weekly News
Austin Weekly News: A new playground offers green and open space to Spencer Technology Academy students and the neighborhood, while managing stormwater
Another green schoolyard in Austin is open to the public, managing stormwater while providing open space to the community.
At Spencer Technology Academy, 214 N. Lavergne Ave. – where there was once an asphalt lot, some play equipment and a small tennis court – now sits an improved playground, a multi-sport court, track and field. And the new schoolyard prevents flooding in the area by absorbing rainwater.
The playground is a part of Space to Grow, an initiative by Openlands – a nonprofit nature conservation organization that preserves natural spaces and brings them to where people are – and the Healthy Schools Campaign.
“We believe in the common-sense notion that healthy students are better learners,” said Kenneth Varner, the Healthy Schools Campaign’s senior community engagement manager. The Healthy School Campaign advocates for creating environments that get elementary school kids outside and keeps them physically active.
Space to Grow schoolyards also increase outdoor learning opportunities and create green space that’s open to the community. They even prevent flooding, as permeable play surfaces allow water to travel through layers of rocks underneath the schoolyard, into chamber systems that gradually release water into the ground.
Spencer Tech’s new schoolyard can capture over 625,000 gallons of water every year.
Varner said that, during community design meetings in Austin, many locals saw stormwater management as an added benefit to a new playground.
“I think a lot of parents and community members are more into the physical transformation of the space. But once we tell them about the other benefits, they are definitely appreciative,” Varner said. “I think the flooding issue is something that is kind of a plus-one to the project, where people are pleasantly surprised.”
During these community design meetings, locals specifically requested a space to play volleyball and a way to incorporate music into the playground. So the tennis court became one that can also be used for volleyball and basketball, and the new play equipment has stations that make different sounds.
“They are intended to be community parks. That is why we engage the community in the design process,” Varner said. The Healthy Schools Campaign is working with Spencer Tech to find when they want to reserve their schoolyard for students, and when its neighbors are welcome to use it outside of school hours.
Now that the playground is open, Varner is helping Spencer Tech staff to connect with area health and wellness organizations that could benefit from using the play space.
“It’s about letting the organizations know that there’s a space in which they can implement their programming and letting the schools know that there are these organizations that are willing to help them achieve their health and wellness goals,” Varner said.
Space to Grow
Space to Grow developed following the 2011 Chicago Public Schools mandate that all elementary schools must have daily recess – a decision that was influenced by Healthy Schools Campaign’s advocacy.
“In our advocacy for getting classrooms outdoors more, we realized that a lot of schools didn’t have the amenities to do so,” Varner said of several CPS elementary schools that had asphalt lots as playgrounds. “We were asking schools to do something that just wasn’t feasible.”
So in 2014, Openlands and the Healthy Schools Campaign partnered with groups that would help provide funding to create playgrounds for these schools: the Chicago Department of Water Management, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, Chicago Public Schools, and later, the Chicago Department of Environment.
What started as four pilot green schoolyards at Grissom, Morrill, Schmid and Leland elementary schools is now 36 Space to Grow lots, serving over 36,000 students across the city.
Other Space to Grow schoolyards on Chicago’s West Side are located at:
- Willa Cather Elementary School and the Morton School of Excellence in East Garfield Park
- Daniel Webster Elementary School and Genevieve Melody Public School in West Garfield Park
- Henry H. Nash Elementary School of Fine & Performing Arts and George Leland Elementary School in Austin, the latter which was part of the pilot
- Daniel J. Corkery Elementary School in South Lawndale
This year, Space to Grow is launching another round of community design meetings to help envision five new elementary school play areas, all on the city’s South Side, which will open in the fall.
But Varner said future Space to Grow schoolyards could come to the West Side.
“Especially with the amount of flooding that has happened, particularly in the Austin neighborhood,” Varner said, “that is a focus of the city to remediate and do things that will help alleviate pressure on the sewer system.”