Adaptation and Community Schools, Part 1 of 3: Our New Reality

“Community” is a fascinating word. We use it often, although it’s meaning changes with context. The vision of cooperation and collegiality it promotes is unique to everyone.

For operational purposes, community needs to be defined. Schools are particularly vulnerable to the term “community”. Everybody wants and appreciates community schools, but how the concept is actually defined and applied for school operations has a profound impact on the lives of students, parents and society at large.     

Our New Reality  

Since their earliest formation, public schools have been linked with community development through land use and subsidiary facility uses. Aligning community services with schools can be difficult for a variety of reasons as they relate to available space, staffing, operational challenges and funding. Our school structures are not organized in a manner that can easily optimize these working relationships.

Climate change requires a re-interpretation of what schools can offer to community development. Families and staff are adopting newly different approaches to work and life, Schools are increasingly expected to meet the unique needs of all students, parents and the local community at large. The advantages of a deeper connection between schools and community must be recognized as a value proposition. People need to see to believe.

A Challenge and Opportunity   

To date, school districts have had limited engagement with climate change adaptation. This is both a challenge and opportunity. The challenge involves re-interpreting the role of schools in community development to effectively address climate change; not just from a land use perspective, but from the lens of equity, local participation, and alignment with local services and enterprise.

The opportunity involves using climate change and adaption as a means to build a deeper connection between communities and school districts.

Adaptation and Schools   

Building community resilience to climate change involves two types of adaptation which can be referred to as Physical and Social.

For school districts and community leaders, the meaning of Physical Adaptation needs to extend beyond school buildings alone, to overall school operations. Among other things, these considerations relate to climate shelters, structural upgrades, digital transformation, student transportation, and program locations used for student attendance boundaries.

In comparison, Social Adaptation is about bringing people together to accommodate the seamless delivery of community services for all age groups. Schools can expedite these connections through public awareness, staff development, and communications.  

In the next post I’ll provide more information, perspectives and context on Physical Adaptation. A third post will focus on Social Adaptation.

Phil Dawes, August, 2023

This article has been updated from its original content via blog post with the Ontario Provincial Planners Institute, January, 2023.