Stormwater Management

How San Carlos School District and Flows to Bay Partnered to Mitigate and Prepare for Storm-Based Flooding

Overview

School campuses contain a significant amount of impervious landscape, such as paved playgrounds, parking lots, plazas, and corridors. These smooth, open surfaces are essential for safety and practicability when it comes to navigating campus and in certain emergencies. However, as California’s school communities have begun experiencing extreme precipitation and storm based flooding as an impact of climate change they are now experiencing new emergency concerns.

Guided by the expertise of community based partners and technical assistance providers, the San Carlos School District tackled these challenges head on, moving from small scale projects such as bioswales and rain barrels to large scale comprehensive resilient schoolyard project planning that includes a proposed field replacement with high efficiency water systems and storage, large rain gardens, tree plantings, and bioretention areas, in addition to safer, more enjoyable play structures and outdoor learning spaces.

Overview to Resilient Schoolyards and Stormwater Management

In partnership with C/CAG San Mateo County (via the Flows To Bay program) and in collaboration with the San Mateo County Office of Education), the San Carlos School District embarked on its Resilient San Carlos Schoolyards Project with funding from the California Resilience Challenge Grant (Bay Area Council). The Resilient San Carlos Schoolyards Project culminated in a multi-pronged participatory school community engagement process, development of conceptual designs for comprehensive schoolyard greening plans and a report documenting the process, the resulting design recommendations for three school-sites and proposed next steps towards funding and implementation.

Tierra Linda - Rain barrel specialist taking Tierra Linda Middle School workshop attendees through the step-by-step instructions for how to install a rain barrel in 2019.

And the completed rain barrel and rain garden installation.

Small-Scale Stormwater Management in San Carlos School District

Through small-scale stormwater management projects, the San Carlos School District gained buy-in for the value of stormwater management projects and continues to help build the network of reliable technical assistance partners. Example projects at this scale include the following:

Tierra Linda Middle School (2019): Working with the San Carlos School District Wellness Director in November 2019, Flows To Bay coordinated the installation of a daisy-chained rain barrel system with a 100-gallon capacity and a drip irrigation system to channel water into the school’s rain garden. The rain garden was built during a hands-on installation workshop where school and community members learned about the benefits of rain barrels as it pertains to stormwater pollution prevention and the basics of rain barrel maintenance. Learn more about this project on the Flows to Bay School Site Improvement page.

Central Middle School (2023): Flows To Bay partnered with Each Green Corner and San Carlos teachers and staff to install a 220-gallon 4-barrel BlueBarrel system on the campus of Central Middle School (CMS) in March 2023. The workshop served as an opportunity for new and seasoned rain barrel enthusiasts in the community to learn hands-on about the rain barrel installation process and for the school to increase its capacity to capture stormwater and prevent local stormwater pollution. The rain barrels have the potential to harvest over 8,000 gallons of water over the course of a year and will provide a sustainable water source for the nearby school garden and will be used to irrigate plants in the garden program. Central Middle School will benefit tremendously from this addition of green infrastructure that can help capture, clean, and absorb stormwater runoff on campus. Learn more about this project here and on the Flows to Bay School Site Improvement page.

These projects, as well as other garden and outdoor classroom initiatives, have helped gain buy-in and continue to drive demand for visionary thinking on a larger-scale transformation of schoolyards to become living schoolyards.

Central Middle School - Chris Corvetti (teacher) and some of the workshop attendees discussing the new rain barrel catchment system at CMS.

Chris Corvetti (teacher) presenting on rain barrels and how they help prevent stormwater pollution.

Large Scale Stormwater Management in San Carlos School District

Building off the success of small-scale projects, the San Carlos School District began working with a number of partners in 2021 to develop a concept plan for a large-scale resilient schoolyard project that they are now in the early stages of implementing. This project, referred to as the “Resilient San Carlos Schoolyards” included a participatory design process, beginning with a visioning and goal-setting exercise with the core project partners, leading to detailed site evaluations of opportunities and constraints, a full school community Stakeholder Advisory Committee (SAC) engagement process (including student and teacher design ideation), and development of comprehensive site design concept plans and further refinement based on SAC walkthroughs at each site.

The vision of the Resilient San Carlos Schoolyards plan is to use the San Carlos School District’s school grounds to demonstrate ecological and social resilience while strengthening children’s education and well-being, promoting school community health, adapting to a changing climate, and managing stormwater more sustainably. The concept plans include recommendations for campus-wide resilient schoolyard features at three sites. The proposed improvements include a field replacement with high-efficiency water systems and storage, large rain gardens, tree plantings, and bioretention areas. The entire process and all the tools and resources to help advance Resilient Schoolyards, including the concept plans themselves, are included in the Final Resilient San Carlos Schoolyards Report and appendices, which can be found here.

Front cover of the Resilient San Carlos Schoolyard Final Report which was finalized in January 2023

Green Schoolyard Concept Planning for Mariposa Upper Elementary School: Example of initial green schoolyard concept planning for a courtyard at the Mariposa Upper Elementary School in San Carlos.

The concept project got amended to the district facilities master plan, and now that the bond funding has been secured they are moving into design work and early implementation of some of the key projects. The next steps with the passage of Measure H 2024 are to revisit the vision of the Resilient Schoolyards Plans, analyze upcoming projects, and apply the vision of the planning for each school site to the projects. For example, the quad area at Tierra Linda is being updated. The first step was to revisit the existing plans and understand how the new work could reflect the native gardens in place as well as maximize stormwater drainage. The next steps include expanding the nature area seating to other parts of the quad and relocating the rain barrels to a place where they can be better utilized. The district has also partnered with the Rotary Club of San Carlos to install a raised bed with vegetables that can be tended to by a student interest club and harvested for student consumption. The goal is to consciously place it in the quad where the students will often connect with it.

The District, in partnership with the City/County Association of Governments of San Mateo County, seeks to create a replicable model for other school districts to promote climate and community resilience through heat and stormwater management.

Lessons Learned

Schools are often significant landowners in any given county, and oversee grounds that have a lot of hard-scape properties that contribute to stormwater runoff; therefore, they need to be a part of the solution. Furthermore, schools also serve as potential ideal locations for stormwater capture and green stormwater infrastructure/nature-based solutions.
Many priorities that schools have, including safe routes to school, schoolyard greening, and climate adaptation (as well as eco-literacy) align very well with watershed-scale stormwater management and climate resilience planning. Furthermore, schools also desperately need to continue to adapt campuses to better cope with extreme heat and the risks of injury to young students in particular, where green elements, heat-resistant materials, and trees can dramatically improve safety, comfort, and learning, while better mitigating extreme weather.
The process of working collaboratively, integrating infrastructure solutions, and advancing funding/project implementation is long and takes commitment and dedication among district and school site staff as well as from community partners. In many cases, additional training and resources may be required to transition school district policies and programs in support of resilient schoolyards. However, small beginnings can lead to significant progress and lasting transformation. Schools and other local jurisdictions and agencies can and need to work together to do these types of projects, and those who can adopt this collective mindset to problem solving around climate impacts will be able to make progress in supporting the school and greater community to be more climate resilient.

Next Steps

The SCSD will be advancing the recently adopted updated facilities master plan including elements of the Resilient San Carlos Schoolyards concept plans. The Facilities Master Plan and Resilient San Carlos project guide every decision so that we can realize the sustainability goals and climate-ready campuses that our community places a high value on and will allow for learning to take place consistently in the presence of extreme heat and other climate challenges that might otherwise interrupt school.
The City/County Association of Governments and its partners, including the County Office of Education, Green Schoolyards America, and school district/site staff are continuing to pursue funding to support scaling up the resilient schoolyards model to other districts in the county while advancing small-scale rain barrel installations with new partnering schools who are just beginning in their resilience journey.

Learn More About San Carlos' Partners

Flows to Bay: The Flows To Bay program is the outreach and education arm of the San Mateo Countywide Water Pollution Prevention Program (SMCWPPP). SMCWPPP has been a program of the City/County Association of Governments of San Mateo County since the early 1990s to help municipalities in San Mateo comply with regional water quality regulations. Part of this work involves engaging k-12 students in San Mateo County on a variety of rainwater pollution issues. A big focus is on supporting schools with transforming schoolyards into greener, safer, and more resilient learning spaces.
Green Schoolyards America: Green Schoolyards America (GSA) seeks to transform asphalt-covered school grounds into park-like green spaces that improve children’s well-being, learning, and play while contributing to their communities' ecological health and climate resilience. GSA works to change the paradigm for school ground design, use, and management so all students will have access to the natural world in the places they already visit on a daily basis.
Each Green Corner: The mission of this non-profit is to educate and assist community members in growing sustainable, permaculture- and culturally-diverse food gardens to create a pipeline of food for non-profit food distribution partners. Each Green Corner works with different sites such as schools, community organizations, and residents.
Bay Tree Design: This design firm provides collaborative design and planning services to a wide range of clients on projects that root people to the land they inhabit and support the renovation of landscapes with healthy ecological processes, community reflection, and in ways that are beneficial to children.

Resources

San Carlos School District Facilities Master Plan (2023): Recommended priorities in this facilities master plan are grouped into the following phases: Phase 1: Climate Ready Projects, which reflect the district's commitment to climate readiness and healthy school environments; Phase 2: Transitional Kindergarten and Building Systems, to reconfigure or expand classroom spaces as needed to support the implementation of universal TK; Phase 3: Dynamic Learning Environments, including educational enhancements for early childhood education, outdoor learning environments, nutrition services, and dynamic collaboration spaces; and Phase 4: Future Ready Projects, including long-term building lifecycle replacements specific to each school site.
Resilient San Carlos Schoolyards Project Overview and Resources on Flows to Bay Site
Flows to Bay School Site Improvement Page: Flows to Bay has led a number of school site improvement projects that focus on small-scale projects that help make school campuses resilient to stormwater management using strategies such as rain barrels, cisterns, and/or rain gardens. This page includes more information on the goals of these projects and provides a number of case study examples across San Mateo County.
Green Schools National Network Profile on the Work of Flows to Bay in San Mateo County (2020)
Resources pages from Green Schoolyards America include a focus on resources that support the following stormwater management solutions: Living School Grounds and Schoolyard Forest Systems.

Meet the Team

Jennifer Gaboury

Chief Operations Officer

San Carlos SD

Charu Gulati

Principal

Tierra Linda Middle School

Reid Bogert

Stormwater Program Director

San Mateo County

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