SCHOOL ACTIVITY ENVIRONMENT
ENACT STRATEGY: Joint Use Facilities
Open school facilities before and after school for use by students, staff and neighborhood
Schools often have recreation infrastructure, but not the resources to staff programs and assume liability outside of regular school hours. Meanwhile, community residents often rely on schools as the sole place in a community to engage in recreation and active play. Joint use agreements allow for school districts and local governments to pool resources and share the responsibility of operating and maintaining recreational facilities. Opening school facilities to the broader community during non-school hours increases physical activity opportunities for community residents. Participating in regular physical activity is protective against a range of illnesses including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, osteoporosis, colon cancer and depression.
Creating Community Playgrounds at Schools
In 2004, the Trust for Public Land launched a cooperative effort with New York City's Department of Education, the School Construction Authority, community sponsors, and private donors to rehabilitate 25 existing school play yards into state-of-the-art community playgrounds. All of the new playgrounds were designed with the help of students, teachers, and parents and will be open to the community through after-school and weekend programming.
New York City Schoolyards to Playgrounds Initiative
The Schoolyards to Playgrounds Initiative was launched by the NYC Mayor’s office in the summer of 2007 and will eventually open 290 school playgrounds citywide for use outside of school hours. This initiative works towards the Mayor’s goal of having every New Yorker live within a 10 minute walk of a park or playground.
Los Angeles Community-Schools Parks Program
People for Parks has been working with the L.A. City Council, Mayor's Office and L.A. Unified School District to green and open school playgrounds when school is not in session.
Schools as Centers of Community: A Citizen’s Guide to Planning and Design (PDF)
“This publication outlines a systematic planning approach that can result in the successful development of schools as centers of community. Its chapters provide basic principles for designing such schools, case studies of successful projects, and a step-by-step methodology—complete with action checklists—for developing a facilities master plan.”
Physical Activity for Youth Policy Initiative (PDF)
Physical Activity for Youth Policy Initiative presented by The National Coalition for Promoting Physical Activity “seeks to provide a means for advocates and policymakers to address the issue of physical inactivity.” The article contains policy options and policies in action in the areas of after school programs, community programs and community design.
Cooperative Development and Use of a Swimming Pool Agreement
The Town of Danville, the local school district, concerned citizens, and the county of Contra Costa came together to jointly develop, finance, operate, and maintain a new swimming pool located at the local high school.
Joint Use Agreement and Covenant
Santa Ana Unified School District and the City of Santa Ana entered into a Joint Use of Property agreement to make high school facilities available for community and city purposes after school hours.
Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Nutrition and Physical Activity Policy
This comprehensive nutrition and physical activity policy includes access to facilities before and after school through municipal joint use agreements and partnerships with youth organizations.
in the ENACT Local Policy Database
Locked schools associated with higher BMIs
The authors visited all schools and parks within a half-mile radius around the residences of participants in the Trial of Activity for Adolescent Girls, and found that a third of schools were inaccessible on weekends. Neighborhoods with locked schools were primarily non-white, more densely populated, of lower socioeconomic status, and were associated with significantly higher body mass index. The authors conclude that obesity prevention efforts should include making schools more accessible.
Scott, M., et al. Weekend Schoolyard Accessibility, Physical Activity, and Obesity. **Preventive Medicine, v. 44, no. 5, May 2007, p. 398-403.
**We can only provide link to article abstract and not the full text.