In 2000, the National Trust for Historic Preservation included neighborhood schools in its list of America's Eleven Most Endangered Historic Places, noting how many small neighborhood schools were closing. In rural areas, particularly, this may be caused by steadily declining enrollment that has forced districts to consolidate and close one, or…

Describes a community planning laboratory process held to resolve the issue of reuse of excess school facilities. (Author/MLF)

Beginning on the front cover, this article recommends planning ahead and involving the community in surplus school use decisions. It suggests turning surplus schools into projects restoring historic buildings and benefitting neighborhoods. (JM)

The Central Park Project, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, illustrates the importance of participation in the design process and the impact of school sites on children as well as on the surrounding neighborhood. (Author/MLF)

This book is a guide to setting up playgrounds from junk materials--used tires, cable reels, inner tubes, and railroad ties, among others--that are child-oriented rather than created primarily for the convenience of adult superintendents. Interwoven with many photographs and plans showing how to use the materials is the author's commentary--part…

The possibility of converting a vacated school building into a useful resource presents a community with an interesting situation. During a 5-year period ending in 1997, over 100 rural Illinois communities encountered this situation. This report explores what happens to vacant school buildings and offers case studies of various re-uses, new…

In an effort to understand the successful components of small community development projects in selected New York communities of less than 10,000 population, an analysis was made of the Sinclairville Project in Chautauqua County which rehabilitated an unused school building to function as a housing unit for senior citizens. Originally a group of…

The suggestions contained in this guide are intended for local Illinois school boards faced with surplus school property. School boards should have open meetings to advise the community of the decision to sell or lease the property. Liaison committees should be established for communication between the school board and the city council, planning…

National census data suggest a sustained period of no growth or modest growth in births; however, migration variations in the metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas and in different regions of the country portend the importance of local community planning for the future of high school facilities. The place of the high school in the scheme of…

This document reports the result of a 5-day meeting held to recommend the structural building adaptations and the curriculum organization necessary to the renovation of Concourse Plaza Hotel into a high school. According to the planning committee, the hotel has many features adaptable to a school, which would permit a meaningful departure from the…

Seven schools located in and around an impoverished West Philadelphia community are highlighted. While all seven schools are representative of a movement toward the decentralization of authority, the involvement of people in their schools, and the humanization of the educational process, each is innovative in its own way. The authors first discuss…