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:


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 


Next Steps


Learn More About San Carlos' Partners 

Resources

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