Discusses a variety of ways in which the Portland District makes efficient use of its school sites including use of modular classrooms, building multi-story schools, sharing use of school sites for both District and other public/community agencies, locating schools on smaller sites, alternative parking arrangements and use of swing sites. 6p

On January 25th, 2012 the District of Columbia Deputy Mayor for Education released "Quality Schools, Every Child, Every School, Every Neighborhood" a report that purports to identify "service gap" between the supply of and demand for "performing seats" in both DC Public Schools and public charter schools. The authors completed a review of the Illinois Facility Fund's analysis. This study addresses its flawed methodology, analyses and recommendations. 12p

Study recommends that Washington, D.C., overhaul or close more than three dozen traditional public schools in its poorest neighborhoods and expand the number of high-performing charter schools. After explaining the research methodology, the study provides a district-wide analysis, with findings and recommendations. Includes maps and tables. 80p

Epidemiologic studies have linked exposure to traffic-generated air and noise pollution with a wide range of adverse health effects in children. Children spend a large portion of time at school, and both air pollution and noise are elevated in close proximity to roads, so school location may be an important determinant of exposure. No studies have yet examined the proximity of schools to major roads outside of the US. Data on public elementary schools in Canada's 10 most populous cities were obtained from online databases. School addresses were geocoded and proximity to the nearest major road, defined using a standardized national road classification scheme, was calculated for each school. Based on measurements of nitrogen oxide concentrations, ultrafine particle counts, and noise levels in three Canadian cities we conservatively defined distances <75 m from major roads as the zone of primary interest. Census data at the city and neighborhood levels were used to evaluate relationships between school proximity to major roads, urban density, and indicators of socioeconomic status. Conclusions: asubstantial fraction of students at public elementary schools in Canada, particularly students attending schools in low income neighborhoods, may be exposed to elevated levels of air pollution and noise while at school. As a result, the locations of schools may negatively impact the healthy development and academic performance of a large number of Canadian children. [Authors' abstract]

Package of school siting policies for school districts that want to ensure that their school siting decisions support the educational success, physical health, and overall well-being of students and their community. Covers school siting policy; long term coordinated planning; school siting determinations; site design; and attendance zones and assignment policies. 25p

In recent decades, many metropolitan areas in the United States have experienced a decline in the population of urban centers and rapid growth in the suburbs, with new schools being built outside of cities and existing urban schools facing closure. These new schools are increasingly larger and farther from residences; in contrast, urban school facilities are often in closer proximity to homes but are also in dire need of upgrading or modernization. This book explores the compelling health and economic rationales for new approaches to school siting, including economic savings to school districts, transportation infrastructure needs, and improved child health. An essential examination of public policy issues associated with school siting, this compiled volume will assist policy makers and help the public understand why it is important for government and school districts to work together on school siting and capital expenditures and how these new outlooks will improve local and regional outcomes. [Authors' abstract]

Voluntary school siting guidelines can help local school districts and community members evaluate environmental factors to make the best possible school siting decisions. Includes overview, environmental siting criteria considerations, environmental review process, evaluating impacts of nearby sources of air pollution, quick guide for environmnetal issues, and frequent questions.

Advocates for the building of new schools in downtown Nashville, Tennessee for a dramatic positive affect on the growth and new development in the urban core of the city. Details universal reasons to invest in downtown schools as well as the benefits to Nashville. Provides extensive case studies from Memphis and Chattanooga, highlighting lessons learned, as well highlighting projects in San Diego, Chicago, and St. Louis. Outlines specific locations for the new schools, with plans and photographs. 17p

Toolkit to help realtors enhance their knowledge and understanding of the public school system so they can become involved in improving their schools and communities. A section on Issues in Public Education includes the following topics: the benefits of green schools; walkability and safe routes to school; school building and siting; teachers living where they work; and how schools are funded. Section two shares examples of realtors and realtor associations around the country that are playing an active role in engaging local students and improving local schools by serving on school boards, volunteering at local schools, donating their time to community-wide efforts to improve schools, and advocating for local school-related initiatives.

This special report website includes articles and videos on air pollution at America's school sites. An overlay of school site and Environmental Protection Agency air pollution data provides a tool for finding a school and its air quality standing. A map illustrates clusters of schools where toxic air is the highest.

Recommended acreages are guidelines meant to assist school districts in planning. They do not have regulatory force. 1p.

Principles include: collaborative planning, long-term data driven planning, account for all costs, co-location and shared costs, preference for renovation, diverse walkable schools, equity in facilities, health impacts, safe routes to school, safe infrastructure for walking, bicycling, and public transportation. 1p

Discusses the planning and design of school grounds for outdoor learning in new and existing K-12 facilities. A general discussion of the educational potential and history of outdoor learning spaces is followed by detail on the different types of outdoor learning environments that can be considered, the value of flexible spaces for outdoor learning, and resources for those interested in outdoor learning environments. Also explored are environmental educations physical impact on school grounds, considerations during school site development when outdoor education is to be included, and existing school site redesign for outdoor education. 35 resources and citations are included. 7p.

Provides decision makers with a quantitative tool for evaluating the potential long-term health impacts of candidate school sites on the children who will attend them. The logic of ASNC is based on existing research that the built environment can have an effect on either encouraging or preventing people of all ages from walking and bicycling safely to various destinations. 31p.

Examines the connections between transit-oriented development (TOD), families, and schools, with a focus on expanding educational opportunities for all children. Taking an exploratory approach to understanding and framing these interconnections, the document provides a rationale for the linkages at this nexus, presents "Ten Core Connections" between TOD and public education, and highlight five case studies in the San Francisco Bay Area. From these, recommendations are provided for enhancing city-school collaboration in TOD for improved transit use and high quality educational opportunities. 80p.

Addresses many factors that need consideration during the process of school site selection, planning, development, and use. The guide examines not only the site selection and planning processes, but also playground planning, recreation and athletic fields planning. Specific considerations include analyses of the surrounding community or territory; building access and security; the surrounding natural environment and available support services; landscaping, utilities, and vehicular traffic; and playground equipment and safety. Final sections provide athletic field layouts for track and field events; football, soccer, and baseball fields; and basketball, volleyball, and tennis courts. Fourteen references are included. 67p.

Provides a summary of school travel data local Safe Routes to School (SRTS) programs throughout the United States collected from April 2007 to May 2009. These data were gathered using a parent self-report questionnaire and an in-class show-of-hand student travel count form. Key findings include: 1) Distance to school is strongly associated with how children get to and from school. The proportion of ––children walking or bicycling to school is much greater among those who live closer to school. 2) Across all grades, the family car and school bus were the two most frequently used options for travel to and from school. Walking was a distant third. However, there are notable differences between how students in lower grades (K-5th) and higher grades (6th-8th) travel to school. 3) More students arrive at school in the family car than leave by car in the afternoon. The majority of those afternoon trips shifted to riding the school bus or walking. 4) Safety factors, like traffic speed and volume and street crossing safety, were frequently selected as ––barriers by parents who live within one half mile of school but do not allow their children to walk or bicycle to/from school. 5) Weather was only marginally related to students’ morning travel mode. 25p.

Advocates the siting of schools to achieve educational, public health, and sustainability objectives. A community-centered school helps anchor the surrounding neighborhood, is centrally-located to a majority of students, and uses existing infrastructure whenever possible. The report identifies the larger community interest in decisions about retaining existing schools and deciding where to locate new ones. It describes the states' role in school siting decisions and identifies state level policy changes that will ensure that educational, environmental, health, community, and fiscal considerations are weighed by communities when school districts make school closing, consolidation, and site selection decisions. 44p.

Explores the approaches five different communities used through Safe Routes to School to create safer environments for children walking and bicycling. The five communities each demonstrate how Safe Routes to School evaluation, education, encouragement, enforcement, and engineering can address traffic safety concerns. Many of these safety improvements are made at relatively low costs to communities and schools, yet have profound effects on keeping children safe while also improving physical health and the environment. 22p.

Proposes better school siting policies than currently in place in New Jersey. The options of building on land already owned by the school district, or building on a new site are examined, as are factors influencing site selection, remediation of brownfields, and acreage requirements. A case study from the Brown City School District is included, as are 19 references. 18p.

Provides communities with tools to protect their children’s health by organizing for the passage of safe school siting policies. This toolkit is based on the lessons learned over the past 28 years of working with communities to fight back polluting facilities, build relationships with elected officials, and run successful local, regional, and national campaigns to end toxic chemical exposure. Sections of the toolkit cover children's health and school siting, a model school siting policy, principles for safe school siting, a sample school siting resolution, how to pass a school siting policy, a sample community presentation, and getting successful media coverage. 58p.

Cites numerous studies illustrates that distance and directness of a route to school is the primary factor that inhibits walking and biking. 19p.

Compiles best practices from the literature pertaining to Smart Growth and K-12 schools, translated into eleven performance-based criteria. The Report Card describes these criteria, then provides four or five options for addressing each of them. The options then correspond to a letter grade that permits a local community to assess its efforts. 24p.

Summarizes research on active transport to school, physical activity levels and health outcomes. It also explores the factors that influence walking and biking to school, including the impact of Safe Routes to Schools programs and school siting. Includes 46 references. 6p.

Advocates for walkable routes to school, emphasizing the global climatic and health effects of greenhouse gasses, such as those generated by motorized vehicles.

Emphasizes creation of neighborhoods and schools that can adapt to changing demographics through mixed development.

Discusses the research on the relationship between school location and new development. Four counties in Georgia were selected as case studies and analyzed with a Geographic Information System (GIS) to determine the significance of the link between these activities. Counties were selected based on their character (urban, suburban, exurban, rural) and analyzed separately. An elementary school and high school were analyzed for each county. In addition, interviews with school facility planners were conducted to further define what institutional barriers prevent cooperation among local land use planners and school planners. It was found that there is a wide range of levels of cooperation between school planners and local planners. Some school districts had a formalized communication process with local planners, some had an ad-hoc communication process, and others had no process at all. Recommendations are made on ways to improve the cooperation between these two professional fields. This report also examines the link between education and transportation capital funding. Georgia lawmakers are struggling to determine what type of capital funding mechanism would be appropriate for new transportation projects, but these new projects may negatively impact educational funding, which is currently based on a sales tax. 118p.

Assists California school districts with navigating environmental mitigation requirements. The handbook identifies the many state and local agencies that may have mitigation requirements, the permissible scope of these requirements, opportunities for negotiation, and best practice advice for compliance. Includes water and sewer service impact, traffic impact, air quality, and climate change. 57p.

Advises school designers and builders on how to adjust their high-performance strategies to account for the differences found in a typical relocatable classroom. Issues involved with site preparation and locating the relocatable on the site are also addressed. The high-performance characteristics detailed for relocatable classrooms include enhanced daylighting, energy-efficient lighting, energy-efficient, low- noise HVAC systems, an efficient building envelope and interior material with low emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOC). Additional chapters detail the CHPS Relocatable Program, which gives manufacturers the option of building relocatables according to bid specifications included in the manual, or to achieve a minimum number of points based on the CHPS relocatable criteria scorecard, also included in the manual. 154p.

Provides a detailed discussion of the processes involved in planning a school building, from a discussion on how to organize the local staff to the final evaluation of the building. Individual chapters address planning, educational program development, evaluation of existing facilities, enrollment projection, financial planning, development of the capital improvement program, development of educational specifications, site selection and acquisition, federal regulations, architect selection and employment, project management, commissioning, post-occupancy evaluation, technology integration, and green schools. 332p.

Examines how California's massive and ongoing investment in school construction could better advance the shared goals of school improvement, sustainable urban growth, and equal opportunity. The brief is organized in five parts: 1) a framework for how smart growth principles could help guide school facilities investments, 2) how the $82 billion in bond revenues are being distributed to California's various regions, 3) how a lack of coordinated planning is placed in sharp relief to where people live to how far they travel to jobs, 4) the benefits of high-quality school facilities that accrue to students and teachers, and 5) state policy makers, local educators, and city planners could exercise influential policy levers more wisely. Four communities that are grappling with these challenges in innovative ways and constructing smart schools that build from smart growth principles are highlighted throughout this report.Explores California's current $82 billion school construction investment as an opportunity to advance educational quality and lift local communities. The report urges incorporation of smart growth principles into school facilities construction, more accountability from the State Allocation Board, and investigation into how facility improvement have improved achievement. 37p.

Case study of the water selection, siting, and energy costs factored into the design of Samuel V. Champion High School in the Boern ISD in Texas.

Describes several Canadian colleges and universities that have built downtown campuses as solutions to the problem of decaying downtowns in smaller Canadian cities. Universities, in turn, are reaping community goodwill – as well as badly needed expansion space.

Recognizing that public funds are severely limited, in 2009, the Hawaii Institute for Public Affairs (HIPA) initiated a research- and community-based effort to develop an innovative, systemic and practicable approach to school facilities upgrades, management and development. The essence of this approach is to leverage underutilized or vacant public school lands that are consistent with the educational and community needs of the school, teachers and its students. Joint-use, lease-backs, land swaps and other use of public school lands provide unique opportunities to maximize the value of public school lands.

Discusses the EPA's first-ever federal guidelines for locating school facilities that encourage high-performance schools, stress the importance of locating schools near populations and infrastructure and promote schools as diverse centers of communities. They urge communities to consider children's ability to walk to school, access to public transportation and how to locate schools away from potential environmental hazards.

Describes the winners of the 2011 awards program for green schools, colleges, and universities, recognizing innovation and best practices. Awards categories are: Building as a Teaching Tool; Energy Efficiency and Conservation; and Site Selection and Development. [See detailed information about each project at Education Design Showcase.]

Exposing children to environmental pollutants during important times of physiological development can lead to long-lasting health problems, dysfunction, and disease. The location of children’s schools can increase their exposure. We examined the extent of air pollution from industrial sources around public schools in Michigan to find out whether air pollution jeopardizes children’s health and academic success. We found that schools located in areas with the highest air pollution levels had the lowest attendance rates—a potential indicator of poor health—and the highest proportions of students who failed to meet state educational testing standards. Michigan and many other states currently do not require officials considering a site for a new school to analyze its environmental quality. Our results show that such requirements are needed. For schools already in existence, we recommend that their environmental quality should be investigated and improved if necessary. [Authors' abstract]

Discusses proposed EPA guidelines will help school systems decide where safe, healthful, sustainable facilities should be built.

The journey between home and school presents one of the most widespread opportunities for children to engage in regular physical activity, yet this opportunity is apparently being squandered. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether travel mode choices for children’s journey between home and school are associated with characteristics of the children, the schools, and the neighborhoods in which the schools are sited. Travel mode choices were collected from children aged 5 to 15 in Halifax, Canada, and joined with information about their schools and their school’s neighborhood. Pearson’s chi-square was used to highlight major differences from expected values and examine the associations with each mode choice (bus, car, or walking). Results suggest that, for the sake of communities and children’s health, the siting of new schools should consider the negative implications of chauffeuring students, and should strive to encourage active forms of transportation. [Authors' abstract]

Discusses the inclusion of wetlands on school sites as a resource for outdoor learning environments, rather than as an obstacle that needs to be remediated.

Advises on school site selection, detailing issues of land characteristics and accessibility. Distance from environmental hazards, traffic management, and the ability for students to walk there safely are detailed.

Describes the challenge of building a new laboratory at Utah Valley University. The lab had to be constructed along an existing campus concourse that connects major campus buildings and whose transparency reveals desirable panoramic views of nearby mountains and water features. The solution was a smaller building than originally sought that preserved the amenities, but required relocation of utilities.

Profiles this prototype school that was built on an infill site by virtue of its small footprint and its proximity to public facilities. The site selection, community participation, building design, "green" features, and use of the building as a teaching tool are described.

Traces the evolution of school siting standards, explains factors currently influencing school facility location decisions, and identifies what local and regional planners could contribute to school siting decisions. The author's research discovered that different groups use very different definitions of community school. Smart growth proponents advocate community schools that are small and intimately linked to neighborhoods, while school facility planners expect community schools to meet the needs of entire localities. She recommends that individual communities consider the tradeoffs associated with different school sizes and make choices that meet local preferences for locations within walking distance of students, potential for sports fields, school design, and connections to neighborhoods. State school construction and siting policies should support flexibility for localities.

Discusses policy decisions regarding the quality of the physical school environment--both, school siting and school facility planning policies. These are often considered through the lens of environmental planning, public health, or education policy, but rarely through all three. Environmental planners consider environmental justice issues on a local level and/or consider the regional impact of a school. Public health professionals focus on toxic exposures and populations particularly vulnerable to negative health outcomes. Educators and education policymakers emphasize investing in human capital of both students and staff. By understanding these respective angles and combining these efforts around the common goals of achieving adequacy and excellence, communities can work toward a regulatory system for school facilities that recognizes children as a uniquely vulnerable population and seeks to create healthier school environments in which children can learn and adults can work.[author's abstract]

Profiles Harvards Northwest Science Building, which accommodated neighborhood concerns over the buildings bulk by placing more than half the total square footage of the facility below grade, and incorporating three functioning green roofs. Placing much of the structure underground also allowed creation of ultra-low-vibration space for sensitive imaging equipment, and produced sustainability benefits by reducing material use and energy consumption.

Advises on school site acquisition, with particular attention to procedures applicable to California. The article addresses searching for a site, obtaining site approval, relocation issues, voluntary acquisition, and eminent domain.

Highlights how the built environment of a community affects childrens opportunities for physical activity. Neighborhoods and communities can provide opportunities for recreational physical activity with parks and open spaces, and policies must support this capacity. Children can engage in physical activity as a part of their daily lives, such as on their travel to school. Factors such as school location have played a significant role in the decreased rates of walking to school, and changes in policy may help to increase the number of children who are able to walk to school. Environment modification that addresses risks associated with automobile traffic is likely to be conducive to more walking and biking among children. Actions that reduce parental perception and fear of crime may promote outdoor physical activity.

Reviews state- and local-level challenges to creating smaller, community-centered schools and preserving historic neighborhood schools. These historically come from acreage requirements in school facility guidelines that are gradually being abandoned. Nonetheless, the desire to build large, remote schools persists. Deferred maintenance that has led to decrepit inner city schools that are deemed unsalvageable is also blamed. A variety of remedies suggested include relaxing cost percentage rules for renovation versus new construction, joint use of neighborhood facilities, and more accurate feasibility studies for renovation versus new construction.