Model Living Schoolyard: Eagle Rock Elementary School
A Campus Water Connections (CWC) StoryMap
The Eagle Rock Elementary Living Schoolyard is an exemplary model of how grassroots parent advocacy and diverse partnerships with public agencies, nonprofits, and local universities can strengthen project outcomes. The new living schoolyard helps cool and clean the air, absorbs and cleans stormwater runoff, provides wildlife habitat, and sequesters carbon in addition to support student health and wellbeing.
Primary Project Benefits
Project Context: Eagle Rock Neighborhood
The Eagle Rock Neighborhood (purple area on the map below) sits in the Los Angeles River Watershed (green area on the map below). The LA River Watershed spans 834 square miles, running east from the Santa Monica Mountains to the Simi Hills and in the west from the Santa Susana Mountains to the San Gabriel Mountains.
In the late 18th century, Spanish explorers arrived in the area, displacing Native Tongva to Rancho San Rafael. The term “Eagle Rock” originated around 1886 by American settlers arriving in the area, who named it after a large gouge in the rock formation that at certain times of the day casts a shadow shaped in a form resembling a flying eagle. After the American settlers arrived in Eagle Rock, the pastoral suburb remained a rural area throughout the late 19th century. Today, Eagle Rock, is inhabited by a blend of multiple ethnic and socioeconomic groups, with a population density of a little over 8,000 people per square mile.
Photo courtesy of the Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection
Project Background: Eagle Rock Elementary
Eagle Rock Elementary underwent a major transformation in 2016, removing 23,789 square feet of asphalt, replacing this with a permeable surface made of decomposed granite and native/drought-tolerant trees and plants. With the transformation, programs emerged to teach about interconnectedness of Earth’s water, energy, and life support systems, as well as include activity-based learning opportunities that empower students to explore their environment and undertake environmental challenges that require problem-solving and critical thinking.
Outdoor Learning Area at Eagle Rock Elementary School
Project Partnerships
The project was completed with the help of the school community, health professionals, environmental economists, and ecological designers. Landscape architecture firm, Studio-MLA, managed the design and implementation of the living schoolyard for environmental non-profit Los Angeles Beautification Team and the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). The design broke up the large expanse of asphalt to create smaller, shadier play spaces and includes native trees and plants, boulders, logs and stumps, and mulch areas.
Studio-MLA worked closely with Occidental College researcher, Dr. Marcella Raney, who studied student behavior and physical activity levels before and after the schoolyard improvements, and environmental economist Dr. Bevin Ashenmiller, who is researching other student outcomes such as academic performance and attendance. Their findings showed that the schoolyard renovations made positive impacts on student health and wellbeing.
Green Ribbon School Recognition
In 2019, Eagle Rock Elementary School was honored with the US Department of Education Green Ribbon School Award. Green Ribbon Schools demonstrate exemplary achievement in three “pillars.” Pillar I: reduce environmental impact and costs; Pillar II: improve the health and wellness of schools, students, and staff; and Pillar III: provide effective environmental education that teaches many disciplines and is especially good at effectively incorporating science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, civic skills, and green career pathways.
Takeaways
The following takeaways were gathered from CWH interviews with project teams.
- “There are so many less obvious benefits from this project [besides water quality and capture].” Principal Leach noted that projects like these really highlight the “less obvious benefits” from greening such as, social and health effects, and engagement. Open space and a sense of freedom outdoors create happy kids, lead to more effective instructional time, and encourage problem solving amongst kids.
- It is challenging to design for multiple priorities, like greening and ADA accessibility. In hindsight, areas that were redone with decomposed granite should be replaced with engineered wood mulch to be both ADA accessible but also allow more room for leaves to fall and blend in with the groundcover, to reduce the need to sweep or rake.
Water-Wise Incentives
Interested in Learning More?
Do you need technical assistance/resources? Do you want to be connected into other school greening efforts?
Contact the Council for Watershed Health! We have expertise in all phases of technical assistance, education and engagement, and monitoring and measuring project progress.
Educational Resources
Thank you to the project team for telling us about this project!
- Principal Stephanie Leach, Eagle Rock Elementary School
- Bevin Ashemiller, Parent Teacher Association President
- Amanda Millett, Parent Advocate
- Clare Latane, Landscape Architect
- Marcella Raney, Academic Researcher
Campus Water Connections
This StoryMap is part of Campus Water Connections, a larger study conducted by the Council for Watershed Health in partnership with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD). MWD offers water-saving programs for residential, commercial and public entities throughout their six-county service area and boasts 26 member cities and agencies. For each of their member agencies, school districts make up some of their largest customers.
