Page 16 - School Planning & Management, July/August 2019

FACILITIES HARNESSING THE POTENTIAL OF OUTDOOR SPACES
Taking Adults out of the Equation in New Jersey
The New Jersey school, working with the Trust for Public Land (TPL) several years ago, turned a plain asphalt lot into a vibrant leading-edge playground designed by students in grades 3 and 4. The playground builds on the success of similar TPL and district efforts nationwide in recent decades, including outdoor renovations with vibrant colors and plenty of play opportunities and plantings at Lafayette Street Elementary School, also in Newark; PS 213 in Brook- lyn; and Taggart Elementary School in Philadelphia. For Sussex, TPL assembled a considerable slate of sponsors consisting of 14 charitable foundations, a utility company and other public and private funders.
The biggest challenge, interestingly enough, was “taking grown-ups out of the picture. And understanding that this is a student-driven project with students in mind,” says Gearhart.
Sussex Avenue Principal Darleen Gearhart describes the design process at the school: “One thing that was unique was that we allowed students to have the autonomy to put into the playground whatever they wanted.” TPL (including its program man- ager and landscape architect, Heidi Cohen), school administrators and teachers, met with students in their classrooms, working directly with youngsters, to discuss “not
so much what the adults thought was best, but to really dig down into the students’ thoughts in terms of why they chose what they chose” to include in their ideal play- ground, Gearhart explains.
The role of the adults was primarily to help define how the outdoor space could work with what the youngsters indicated they wanted. The process has created what
Gearhart describes as a playground that
is not just “gorgeous, but also mindful of everyone.” That means a site fully accessible for all children, including an outdoor class- room area, a running track, a basketball court, chess/checker tables, a sun clock and a fenced area for pre-K to grade 1 students. There are several green spaces, including
a butterfly garden and outdoor planters producing vegetables that are donated to the community.
Two of the kids’ design ideas are telling of how seriously they took this opportunity. First, students suggested placing a basketball court away from the center of the playground because they felt “it would be too disruptive” for other play, Gearhart reports. And second, kids wanted sprinklers to run through.
Plumbing for the sprinklers was a con-
siderable undertaking, but adults liked the notion because instead of running through, say, an open fire hydrant in the street on hot days, kids now cavort at the sprinklers in
the safe playground, during school year as well as the summer. (Designated community members have keys to a preexisting gate.) Additionally, Gearhart turned the procedures for winterizing the sprinklers’ plumbing into a hands-on lesson with students, she said. The biggest challenge, interestingly
enough, was “taking grown-ups out of the picture and understanding that this is a student-driven project with students in mind,” says Gearhart, who says she believes “students should have the largest say, so for students to design it to their specifications, they have to feel that freedom and that responsibility.”
Student design. Elementary students at Sussex Avenue Renew School in New Jersey came up with ideas for their own playground, including green areas, a place to run through sprinkler on hot days and basketball courts set off to the side so as not to disrupt other forms of play.
16 SCHOOL PLANNING & MANAGEMENT / JULY/AUGUST 2019 WEBSPM.COM
PHOTOS © ANTOINE SMITH / ADS PHOTOGRAPHY FOR THE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND