Community-School Parks: November 2008
LAUSD School Board Discusses CSP Report
On Nov. 25, members of a working group representing the City of Los Angeles, the L.A. Unified School District, People for Parks, parks and recreation employees, and elected officials presented its report on converting black-topped schoolyards into Community-School Parks (CSPs) to the LAUSD Board of Education.
PFP Vice President John Perez, seen at the microphone, Ana Lasso of the LAUSD Facilities Department, and Joel Alvarez of the L.A. City Parks Department spoke during the presentation and answered Board members’ questions. Also attending were Al Cortez of Beyond the Bell, Mary Rodriguez of City Councilman Tom LaBonge’s office, and PFP consultant Carrie Sutkin.
Board President Monica Garcia warmly endorsed the group’s report and asked that it be placed on the LAUSD website. Board members Marguerite LaMotte, Marlene Canter, Yolie Flores Aguilar and Julie Korenstein were also strongly supportive. Richard Vladovic, a cosponsor of the original Board motion in favor of studying CSPs, was absent. Click here for a copy of the report.
Los Angeles city officials, meanwhile, are also keeping close tabs on the project. Sutkin recently toured a potential site for one of the first CSPs with Councilman Tom LaBonge’s Education Deputy, Mary Rodriguez, and City Hall Legislative Deputy Lisa Schechter.
Private funding will also be needed to green and supervise the CSPs. It will cost each school about $20,000 per year for Beyond the Bell and the City of L.A. to provide after-school supervision and service on weekends and during summers for six hours daily. By law, CSPs cannot be open without adult supervision.
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