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HOW SHORTSTGHTED POLICIES UNDERMINE <br />HISTORIC NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOLS <br />To a surprising extexit, public policies have cut schools and communities off from <br />each other by encouraging the closure of small, community-centered schools and <br />promoting mega school sprawl. <br />Acreage Standards <br />Many state education departments either mandate or recommend a minimum <br />number of acres for schools. National, guidelines recommended to states by.the Council <br />of Educational Facility Planners International (CEFPn call for the following: <br />Elementary Schaal <br />• At least 10 acres of land plus one acre for every 100 students <br />Middle School . <br />• At least 20 acres of land plus one acre for every 100 students <br />High School <br />• At least 30 acres of land plus one acre for every 100 students <br />Thus an elementary school with 400 students would need 14 acres; a middle school with <br />600 students, 26 acres; and a high school with 2,000 students, SO acres. <br />Many states apply guidelines similar to those recommended by the CEFPI, while <br />other .states have developed their awn formulas. New York, for example, recommends <br />only three acres of land -plus one acre for every 100 students - for an elementary school. <br />Minnesota, on the other hand, recommends twice as much land as does CEFPI for a large <br />high school: 60 acres plus one acre for every 100 students.12 Local governments, too, <br />ey-~b]ish minimum sc1i001 Site sizes. Albemarle County, Va,, fog example, r~ommends <br />15 acres for an elementary school with 600 students, 30 acres for a middle school with <br />750 students, and 45 acres for a high school with 1,500 students. The county's current <br />high school sites exceed 60 acres.13 <br />Since sites that large can generally be found only in outlying areas, which are too <br />remote for students to walk to or reach by public transit, schools often require a vast <br />16 <br />