Students explore the living landscape at the Jeff Seymour Family Center in El Monte (Photo – ActiveSGV)
For many children in the San Gabriel Valley, the schoolyard doubles as the neighborhood park. Too often, those yards are expanses of flat, shadeless asphalt. On warm days, the surface temperature can climb far higher than the street outside the fence. For schools, that can mean weeks or even months when students are kept indoors because of heat-safety protocols.
By Dale Zapata
Some schools are working to change that. On May 2, five campuses across the SGV and Northeast Los Angeles opened their gates for the region’s first Green Schools Tour, a free, self-guided event showcasing how greener schoolyards can support students, communities, and climate resilience.
What the Tour Included
At Mary W. Jackson in Altadena, . In its place: outdoor classrooms built from boulders and recycled lumber, bioswales, native shrubs, and 36 new trees.
At Mary W. Jackson Elementary in Altadena, 21,000 square feet of pavement were removed in 2022. In their place are outdoor classrooms built from boulders and recycled lumber, along with bioswales, native shrubs, and 36 newly planted trees.
At Garvey Intermediate in Rosemead, a 10,000-square-foot native garden has flourished since 2015. The site features chaparral, meadow, and riparian habitats, as well as a vernal pool that supports a population of fairy shrimp.
At Eagle Rock Elementary in Los Angeles, the Wild Classroom Project installed a 3,200-square-foot native garden last December. The space is already serving as a living classroom for students in grades K–6.
At San Rafael Elementary in Pasadena, a small grant and a dedicated group of parent volunteers launched a campus transformation in 2022. Today, the school has the second-highest tree canopy coverage in student areas across Pasadena Unified, with trees shading 16% of student zones. A mural by local artist Mustard Beetle, featuring native plants and animals, now stretches across the playground wall. The campus is currently slated for a full district rebuild, leaving the future of years of greening work uncertain.
At the Jeff Seymour Family Center in El Monte, rain gardens, bioswales, and an expanded tree canopy provide shaded outdoor space for children and families. The site also includes the region’s first traffic garden and a community bike park with pump tracks, both open to the public after school hours and on weekends.
Visitors explored the native garden at Eagle Rock Elementary (Photo -ActiveSGV)
Why It Matters
Many communities in the SGV have limited access to parks and open space. For families without a car, the neighborhood school may be the nearest accessible green space. When those campuses include trees, native plants, and permeable surfaces, the benefits extend beyond students to the surrounding community.
“The Green Schools Tour gave concerned citizens, educators, and practitioners an opportunity to see firsthand what local school sites are doing to create cooler playgrounds, support outdoor learning and biodiversity, and prepare for a hotter, drier future,” said Wesley Reutimann, deputy director at ActiveSGV.
Green schoolyards remain the exception rather than the norm in Southern California. Few districts have even one campus where trees shade 30% of student areas. Achieving change at scale will require support from school boards, facilities staff, and families alike. Still, momentum is building, and ActiveSGV hopes this inaugural tour will become an annual event.
Learn more about the tour and participating sites at GreenSGVTour.com.
Dale Zapata works in communications and advocacy at ActiveSGV, a nonprofit dedicated to creating a more livable, sustainable, and equitable San Gabriel Valley.
“All Pollinators Welcome Here” sign at Mary W. Jackson Elementary (Photo – ActiveSGV)
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