Support Demand for Greening on Asphalt Playground at Carthay Environmental LAUSD School
Support Demand for Greening on Asphalt Playground at Carthay Environmental LAUSD School
The Issue
School kids deserve tree shade on the playground. The stakeholders of Los Angeles deserve the health benefits that mature trees offer.
The Los Angeles Unified School District is the largest landholder in the City - most all of this land is paved over with asphalt and most all of it - where children play - lacks shade.
The students at Carthay Environmental Studies Elementary School are learning to be stewards of nature, yet on June 14, 2024, LAUSD destroyed two mature oak trees rather than finding alternate construction plans. These mature trees provided essential shade for children and habitat for local wildlife, contributing to the ecological balance on the campus. Removing them has disrupted this balance and sends a conflicting message about environmental stewardship. Two additional mature trees were also removed from the teacher's parking lot. The photos above shows our beloved Oak trees which LAUSD chopped down.
Mature trees are vital in urban areas like Los Angeles; they help reduce air pollution, lower temperatures, and improve mental well-being for students, staff and the community. According to the U.S. Forest Service, a single mature tree can absorb up to 48 pounds of carbon dioxide per year (source: U.S. Forest Service). Destroying these trees would mean losing these benefits.
We urged LAUSD to reconsider their plans and explore alternative construction methods that would have preserved these irreplaceable natural resources. There are many LAUSD schools with no trees at all on their paved playgrounds. Let's be the change, support the protection of healthy mature trees wherever they exist on LAUSD schoolyards. More than this - tell the LAUSD that, as the largest land owner in the city, kids need healthy environments in which to play and learn - not parking lots as is the current construct.
Please sign this petition to demand that LAUSD protect Carthay school's environment while also sending a message that our public schools must change to provide healthy, green, beautiful environments for all children. Our trees have been destroyed but LAUSD should be complying with their OWN Green Schools for All policy which states that when asphalt is disrupted on a school playground that additional greening elements and/or shade should be incorporated.
Below you can see the barren school playground after the two mature Oak trees were cut down.
UCLA's Luskin Center for Innovation says "Our Children Play on Parking Lots" - playgrounds are some of the HOTTEST locations in communities and children are most vulnerable:
LAUSD's Play Surface Thermal Contact Burn Bulletin: designed solely with materials such as asphalt, rubber matting and metal, playgrounds can be unsafe for children even on moderately warm days
LAUSD Facilities Division is constructing much-needed ADA improvements to Carthay School which everyone supports. We take exception to LAUSD refusing to consider alternatives which will save the only shade-giving trees on the asphalt playground. On a 92 degree day, blacktop can reach 149 degrees. The elevator can be re-located to a different location which would have allowed the oak trees to continue to thrive for many more decades providing shade and habitat for native species.
"...KLIVANS: Alberto Carvalho is superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District.
ALBERTO CARVALHO: It's a policy of decades that has asphalted over the natural environment because these were surfaces that were easier to maintain.
KLIVANS: LA and the state are putting more than $100 million into greening the city's schools. And they're starting in neighborhoods with the greatest health disparities. But Carvalho says that comes with challenges - skyrocketing construction costs or dealing with contaminants that may be in the ground after removing blacktop. After the upfront cost, though, Carvalho, plus a study by the Trust for Public Land, say green schoolyards are cheaper to maintain.
CARVALHO: It is the right investment, not just from a health and environmental equity perspective, but also in terms of long-term economic benefits..."
above LAUSD Superintendent Carvalho excerpt from NPR program:
Climate change is making schoolyard play dangerously hot. California has a solution
AUGUST 26, 2023
Just in case you need a reminder, here's Tree People's list of the 22 benefits of trees.
Including this fact #9:
Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States. Trees reduce UV-B exposure by about 50 percent, thus providing protection to children on school campuses and playgrounds - where children spend hours outdoors.
Thank you for reading and supporting nature in the midst of Los Angeles' endless pavement. Carthay Center PTA will forward any supportive emails to LAUSD decision makers. Please send your email to:
Shade and greening at a school is not a privilege, it is a right for all children everywhere. Any bureaucratic pushback about Carthay having more green space than a lot of other schools is not a defensible position in an overheating world. Is LAUSD interested in protecting the health of its students or diminishing it?
From LAUSD's website about Carthay's Environmental Studies program:
Carthay School of Environmental Studies Magnet is the only ETK-5th grade magnet elementary school in the LAUSD that combines the sciences and the humanities in an educational program centered on society and the environment. Environmental Studies is a broad, comprehensive field of study that engages students in real life explorations and gives them the skills and abilities they need to be active participants in improving quality of life for themselves and future generations.
Greening At Carthay
Carthay Environmental Studies Magnet has benefited from decades of partnerships between community and nonprofit organizations, LAUSD, parent and community volunteers, and student-led environmental activism. From the edible garden and outdoor classroom to the drought-tolerant front native habitat, the campus boasts beautiful green spaces that are often featured in LAUSD's greening presentations. However, these green spaces are not accessible to students for daily recess. The main play yard (which serves Kindergarten-5th grade daily) is asphalt with shade trees present along the perimeter of the yard but not on the scorching asphalt. The exception is one shade tree near the play apparatus.
Students deserve access to shade during recess and lunch play, which is typically the hottest part of the day.
About Carthay Environmental Studies Magnet
Carthay Environmental Studies Magnet is a Title 1, TK-5th grade public school and the only STEM-certified elementary school in the Los Angeles Unified School District that combines garden sciences in an educational program centered on society and the environment. The school's edible garden, which began in 2006, is an integral part of our environmental studies program.
Carthay Elementary first opened its doors in 1924 to serve the immediate neighborhood. Today, Carthay's students travel from neighborhoods throughout Los Angeles, including underserved areas, to participate in our environmental studies program. The families represent the diversity of Los Angeles and speak over a dozen different languages from around the world: Spanish, Punjabi, Filipino, Russian, Farsi, Hindi, Japanese, Amharic, Armenian, German, Korean, Hebrew and Rumanian. Latest publicly reported student demographics: Hispanic/Latinx 44% of students; Black/African American 24%; White 17%; Asian or Pacific Islander 9%; two or more races 5%. More than half, over 67%, of Carthay students qualify for free/reduced lunch and 18% are English learners.
2,616
The Issue
School kids deserve tree shade on the playground. The stakeholders of Los Angeles deserve the health benefits that mature trees offer.
The Los Angeles Unified School District is the largest landholder in the City - most all of this land is paved over with asphalt and most all of it - where children play - lacks shade.
The students at Carthay Environmental Studies Elementary School are learning to be stewards of nature, yet on June 14, 2024, LAUSD destroyed two mature oak trees rather than finding alternate construction plans. These mature trees provided essential shade for children and habitat for local wildlife, contributing to the ecological balance on the campus. Removing them has disrupted this balance and sends a conflicting message about environmental stewardship. Two additional mature trees were also removed from the teacher's parking lot. The photos above shows our beloved Oak trees which LAUSD chopped down.
Mature trees are vital in urban areas like Los Angeles; they help reduce air pollution, lower temperatures, and improve mental well-being for students, staff and the community. According to the U.S. Forest Service, a single mature tree can absorb up to 48 pounds of carbon dioxide per year (source: U.S. Forest Service). Destroying these trees would mean losing these benefits.
We urged LAUSD to reconsider their plans and explore alternative construction methods that would have preserved these irreplaceable natural resources. There are many LAUSD schools with no trees at all on their paved playgrounds. Let's be the change, support the protection of healthy mature trees wherever they exist on LAUSD schoolyards. More than this - tell the LAUSD that, as the largest land owner in the city, kids need healthy environments in which to play and learn - not parking lots as is the current construct.
Please sign this petition to demand that LAUSD protect Carthay school's environment while also sending a message that our public schools must change to provide healthy, green, beautiful environments for all children. Our trees have been destroyed but LAUSD should be complying with their OWN Green Schools for All policy which states that when asphalt is disrupted on a school playground that additional greening elements and/or shade should be incorporated.
Below you can see the barren school playground after the two mature Oak trees were cut down.
UCLA's Luskin Center for Innovation says "Our Children Play on Parking Lots" - playgrounds are some of the HOTTEST locations in communities and children are most vulnerable:
LAUSD's Play Surface Thermal Contact Burn Bulletin: designed solely with materials such as asphalt, rubber matting and metal, playgrounds can be unsafe for children even on moderately warm days
LAUSD Facilities Division is constructing much-needed ADA improvements to Carthay School which everyone supports. We take exception to LAUSD refusing to consider alternatives which will save the only shade-giving trees on the asphalt playground. On a 92 degree day, blacktop can reach 149 degrees. The elevator can be re-located to a different location which would have allowed the oak trees to continue to thrive for many more decades providing shade and habitat for native species.
"...KLIVANS: Alberto Carvalho is superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District.
ALBERTO CARVALHO: It's a policy of decades that has asphalted over the natural environment because these were surfaces that were easier to maintain.
KLIVANS: LA and the state are putting more than $100 million into greening the city's schools. And they're starting in neighborhoods with the greatest health disparities. But Carvalho says that comes with challenges - skyrocketing construction costs or dealing with contaminants that may be in the ground after removing blacktop. After the upfront cost, though, Carvalho, plus a study by the Trust for Public Land, say green schoolyards are cheaper to maintain.
CARVALHO: It is the right investment, not just from a health and environmental equity perspective, but also in terms of long-term economic benefits..."
above LAUSD Superintendent Carvalho excerpt from NPR program:
Climate change is making schoolyard play dangerously hot. California has a solution
AUGUST 26, 2023
Just in case you need a reminder, here's Tree People's list of the 22 benefits of trees.
Including this fact #9:
Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States. Trees reduce UV-B exposure by about 50 percent, thus providing protection to children on school campuses and playgrounds - where children spend hours outdoors.
Thank you for reading and supporting nature in the midst of Los Angeles' endless pavement. Carthay Center PTA will forward any supportive emails to LAUSD decision makers. Please send your email to:
Shade and greening at a school is not a privilege, it is a right for all children everywhere. Any bureaucratic pushback about Carthay having more green space than a lot of other schools is not a defensible position in an overheating world. Is LAUSD interested in protecting the health of its students or diminishing it?
From LAUSD's website about Carthay's Environmental Studies program:
Carthay School of Environmental Studies Magnet is the only ETK-5th grade magnet elementary school in the LAUSD that combines the sciences and the humanities in an educational program centered on society and the environment. Environmental Studies is a broad, comprehensive field of study that engages students in real life explorations and gives them the skills and abilities they need to be active participants in improving quality of life for themselves and future generations.
Greening At Carthay
Carthay Environmental Studies Magnet has benefited from decades of partnerships between community and nonprofit organizations, LAUSD, parent and community volunteers, and student-led environmental activism. From the edible garden and outdoor classroom to the drought-tolerant front native habitat, the campus boasts beautiful green spaces that are often featured in LAUSD's greening presentations. However, these green spaces are not accessible to students for daily recess. The main play yard (which serves Kindergarten-5th grade daily) is asphalt with shade trees present along the perimeter of the yard but not on the scorching asphalt. The exception is one shade tree near the play apparatus.
Students deserve access to shade during recess and lunch play, which is typically the hottest part of the day.
About Carthay Environmental Studies Magnet
Carthay Environmental Studies Magnet is a Title 1, TK-5th grade public school and the only STEM-certified elementary school in the Los Angeles Unified School District that combines garden sciences in an educational program centered on society and the environment. The school's edible garden, which began in 2006, is an integral part of our environmental studies program.
Carthay Elementary first opened its doors in 1924 to serve the immediate neighborhood. Today, Carthay's students travel from neighborhoods throughout Los Angeles, including underserved areas, to participate in our environmental studies program. The families represent the diversity of Los Angeles and speak over a dozen different languages from around the world: Spanish, Punjabi, Filipino, Russian, Farsi, Hindi, Japanese, Amharic, Armenian, German, Korean, Hebrew and Rumanian. Latest publicly reported student demographics: Hispanic/Latinx 44% of students; Black/African American 24%; White 17%; Asian or Pacific Islander 9%; two or more races 5%. More than half, over 67%, of Carthay students qualify for free/reduced lunch and 18% are English learners.
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Petition created on May 19, 2024