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AN AGENDA FOR CHANGE: <br />POLICY REFORM RECOMMENDATIONS <br />If it's time to bring back smaller, community-centered schools, as many educators <br />believe, it's also time to stop destroying such schools where they already exist.. Many <br />historic neighborhood schools embody the very benefits seen in smaller, community- <br />centered schools. <br />It's also time to give kids the option of walking to school and to free families <br />from the burden of financing a third or fourth car in order to give young people the <br />independence they should have. It's time to preserve -and upgrade, when necessary - <br />historic schools whose architecture inspires civic pride. When such schools cannot be <br />preserved, communities should have the choice of replacing them on the same site with <br />well-designed new schools that can continue to provide the "glue" that older <br />_. <br />- neighborhoods need. The recommendations below aze offered by the Natio nis_t or <br />Historic Preservation to move these goals forwazd. <br />Top Twelve Policy Recommendations <br />Put historic neighborhood schools on a level playing field with new schools. <br />Eliminate fiznding biases that favor new construction over school renovation and <br />good stewardship. <br />2. Eliminate arbitrary acreage standards that undermine the ability of established <br />communities to retain and upgrade (or replace on the same site, when necessary) <br />historic and older schools that could continue to serve as centers of community. <br />3. Avoid `mega-school sprawl" -massive schools in remote locations that stimulate <br />sprawl development and are accessible only by car or bus. <br />~1. Develop procedures for accepting land doniated by developers for new schools. <br />Land in "sprawl locations" that are inappropriate for schools should be rejected. <br />5. Encourage school districts to cooperate with other institutions - e.g., government <br />agencies, nonprofits, churches, and private businesses -- to share playgrounds, <br />ball fields, and pazking as well as to provide transit services, when appropriate. <br />6. Establish guidelines, training programs, and funding mechanisms to ensue <br />adequate school building maintenance. Create disincentives for school districts to <br />defer needed maintenance and allow buildings to fall into disrepair. <br />7. Require feasibility studies comparing the costs of new schools with those of <br />renovating existing schools before new schools are built and existing ones <br />abandoned. Hire only architects with experience in rehabilitation work to conduct <br />such studies. These studies should also consider the impact of a school's closing <br />on existing neighborhoods, long-term transportation costs, and municipal service <br />49 <br />