In most every residential part of Orléans, the local school is the biggest and most impactful building around. It is built with our tax dollars and is one of the few non-residential buildings we have allowed to exist right in where people live (see the Village Test). But in a lot of ways, these schools feel fundamentally underused, and disconnected from the communities that surround them outside of school hours. A lot of the time, it feels like the school and the community around it are in two completely different worlds.
Many groups are invested in schools to various degrees, from students and parents, to teachers and admin, and even hardworking groups like parent councils. And to be clear, this isn’t because any of the people running or visiting our local schools day to day aren’t invested or don’t care. The real opportunity that I assert we’re missing here is that space in schools could be better used in ways that strengthen the community and bond its residents. The school boards’ administrative machinery is very complex, and the rules schools follow because of this don’t always align with what could benefit local residents and the community’s needs.
Different Goals, Different Rules
The biggest reason I can find for this gap is that schools and communities are driven by different priorities and deal with different people.
School boards are large organizations that follow all kind of rules set by the province and the more local administration. Their main goals, understandably, are focused on what happens inside the classroom—things like test scores and student safety during school hours. Teachers are focused on education, and parents are focused on supporting their kids, all priorities that make perfect sense. Even parents councils are focused on fundraising, planning events for the students and families, and maybe working on issues the school might be facing.
There are no interests among these groups that align with the school fitting into the community surrounding it. This is despite schools’ massive footprints and the potential for events from book clubs to bat mitzvahs taking place on evenings and weekends. We’re severely lacking indoor public space, especially during inclement weather and all winter, and schools have it in spades.
Because the people who exist in and around schools have all different sets of goals, there is no group with an incentive to better integrate community activities in the school building. Outside community groups like the community association who might have volunteers willing to host events in schools have to jump through all kinds of hoops just to book these spaces. And even when they do, it can be quite challenging or even against their guidelines to let people in the nearby community or even students at the school know about events hosted by ‘outside groups’. This is an understandable misalignment of priorities, but it’s one that could be addressed with a little motivation within a school’s leadership, if some light is shined on it.
Bringing the School and Community Together
To address this, it will take some change in how these organizations talk to each other, and whether they even do. There’s no group or individuals responsible for this being so complicated; and just a little effort could really help use these spaces more effectively in their communities. For example:
- Better Communication: School Councils and Community Associations should have a permanent way to share information back and forth. If the community is looking for a place to run an event, the school should be part of that conversation and clearing the way to make it happen from the start.
- Opening the Doors: We should find ways to make it easier for the community to use school buildings and fields after hours. These are public spaces right near where people live, and they could be used to benefit the whole neighbourhood.
- Joint Planning: The City and school boards could even work together to create event templates or offer suggestions for types of things schools could host after hours or on weekends (board game nights, free play, book club, study groups, etc.).
By making it easier for these systems to work together, we can make our schools the true heart of our neighbourhoods again.
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