Diana Martinez, Alejandro JSM Chavez | San Fernando Valley Sun / El Sol
Alongside back-to-school frenzy, the largest greening project for Los Angeles Unified School District has brought added excitement to Pacoima Middle School.
Between classes, curious students and staff at the school — located in one of the most economically disadvantaged areas of the San Fernando Valley — peek through the construction fence to see the progress made on their school’s greening project.
“What’s that over there?” a student asked, pointing to round areas of fresh soil dotting the grounds.
Dreary blacktop has been pulled up and replaced with paved curved pathways — leading to what will be a large garden designed to be a gathering space for the school and within that space are smaller “reading gardens” with sitting areas — tranquil spots for students to open an old-fashioned book.
This last section of ground is being readied for the project’s last phase: a final community planting of native trees and plants scheduled for late September.
The students also spot the row of trees planted against the concrete wall, separating the school just feet away from the pollution of the 5 Freeway.
Principal Simer Garcha is full of joy when she talks about the transformation that has been taking place.
The school has constructed what will soon be a living schoolyard; it’s the most extensive greening project in the LAUSD district.
Since the project broke ground last year, 107 trees have been planted. A recent walk through to check on them found they have taken hold and are healthy and growing, except for one species that the squirrels enjoyed. With time, the trees will provide green canopies of shade.
In a separate school project, volunteers including TreePeople also pitched in to plant a rose garden filled with blooms of color — a memorial to a school counselor.
A contrast from years before
When Garcha became the principal at Pacoima Middle School eight years ago, at the top of her list was making the school one that anyone would be proud to attend. It was a tall order for a school located in what is considered one of the most economically disadvantaged areas in the San Fernando Valley.
She bristles anytime people make negative comments about the northeast valley school.
“Being close to the 5 freeway with the noise and all, sometimes people say, ‘Oh, it’s a ghetto school,’ those things hurt me so much,” said Garcha.
“Now with all these trees planted, when kids are playing, they’ll see greenery instead of that solid concrete wall,” she continued. “You can hear all that sound and the smell and sometimes with the spills on the freeway it’s worse. So, we put shelter in place here,” she said, referencing days when students had to stay indoors away from the pollution.
With 1,100 predominantly Latino students, many who are low income, Pacoima Middle School may be classified as “disadvantaged.” However, Garcha emphasized, this shouldn’t ever mean that they are less deserving.
She knows the community and school well, after working there since 2004 — first as the school coach.
Known throughout the community for her tenacity and drive, Garcha worked her way up to the administration office as vice principal, then in 2016, she became the principal.
It was then, during a visit from LAUSD Board Member Kelly Gonez, that Garcha first shared her vision to green and beautify the campus.
“She asked what I would like to see changed. I said — equity. You know, I go to some schools, and it looks like I’m going to a summer camp. It’s so beautiful, lush green,” Garca explained.
“The school had so many dirt patches here and dying trees and bushes there. And in the back, we had 12 bungalows that weren’t being used and when they removed them, they were replaced with more blacktop. I had a school covered with blacktop. But, some kids would just plop down there and sit in the sun – because there was no shade,” she continued.
Garcha said the kids complained about the heat radiating from the asphalt. Temperatures of 130 degrees have been recorded on the school’s asphalt.
For years, she explained, it’s been difficult for students to play outdoors safely, and it’s been especially concerning to know that such oppressive conditions can contribute to health issues.
Her first queries about the cost to green the school brought quotes of hundreds of thousands of dollars. But, instead of taking the position as others have, that it was a lofty idea, just too out of reach, she set out to build a team and partnerships that could see her vision and share her “can do” spirit.
It would take years.
“We’ve slowly been getting it done,” said Garcha. “It’s easy to just give up but I thought, can we hold a fundraiser? What can we do? Answering her own question she recalled, “The only thing we could do was go forward.”
She credits the environmental organization TreePeople in playing a crucial role in helping to guide them.
And those at TreePeople readily praise Garcha, who persisted.
“We reached out to outside agencies and during Covid-19 my students and teachers participated in Zoom meetings to apply for grants to explain why we needed it,” she explained.
Their determination paid off. They received a large grant of nearly $800,000 from The California Natural Resources Agency’s Urban Greening Program.
Leading the way with new heights of green
“The living schoolyard is literally paving the way for other school projects,” said Emily Tyrer, Director of Green Infrastructure for TreePeople.
“We have 27 more active school projects across a couple of different districts but I would say, Pacoima is really setting this new standard of what a school greening project could be,” said Tyrer.
“We have been planting trees on school campuses for 40 years but no project has been as extensive as this one. Pacoima is the first of this type of project where it’s funded by a big grant and constructing gathering spaces, it’s not just trees,” she added.
The sizable funding brought more resources. LAUSD agreed to make up any possible shortfalls with the use of a bond measure and the support of their eco-sustainable office.
A noted talent, LAUSD landscape architect Ruben Valenzuela went to work to create the design and Jessie Salazar of Salazar Construction who has worked on many LAUSD greening projects before, hired a team of local workers who were excited to be involved in improving a school in their own neighborhood.
They got to work in removing 14,000 square feet of asphalt, and experienced what it’s like for the kids to stand on that hot blacktop.
“When we were breaking up the asphalt, the heat just came back at you and it felt like 120 degrees. I grew up in a similar environment. I didn’t have trees to look at so I could relate to this project and so could our workers,” said Salazar.
“Our workforce are members of the landscape and irrigation union Local 345 and 80% of them live just 10 minutes away from the school,” he continued.
Salazar said they’ve valued this project and were motivated even when it was over 100 degrees because they know that it’s for their own community and will help kids.
“As local residents, the children they have now or may have in the future could go to this school and enjoy this space,” he said. “We’ve done other projects with the district and this one is very special.”
“The whole space is going to be permeable with decomposed granite used for the pathways and ADA compliant. Rainwater will be able to filter through the material and will seep into the landscape,” he added.
“The plants are all drought tolerant and sustainable and almost all of them are fragrant with sage and other plants that are relaxing,” Salazar explained.
TreePeople at the helm
Tyrer is also a landscape architect and has been the project manager for the school’s project with TreePeople. There are trees planted in the perimeters of the school and inside the campus.
“We’ve spread trees … everywhere … with a mix of native and climate adapted and climate resilient trees. We wanted a mix of some trees that grow really fast, like Brisbane box trees. Those are the ones that we’ve seen a lot of growth,” said Tyrer.
“We kind of wanted to match some of the species we already saw around the school, like the sycamores and the Brisbane box, and we have some oak trees going in. Those were the ones we recently saw that the squirrels really want to eat. We have holly oaks, we have coast live oaks, we have valley oaks going in. So it’s a mix of native and climate adapted trees,” she continued.
“This more formalized type of project with a larger amount of funding has brought more complex designs that really address student needs,” Tyrer explained.
“TreePeople work with communities that are most at risk for extreme heat and have the highest, documented rates of air pollution,” she added. “We consider how much green space is already on their campus and how far away they are from any parks.”
Tyrer gave much praise to Garcha, who completed the paperwork for this project, and ensured that all the boxes were checked. Now, the Living School yard is almost across the finish line.
“There’s now a quad area of trees. When you go there, it’s cooler and it’s quiet, and you hear birds, and you just feel how your heart rate goes down,” said Tyrer. “We wanted to bring that experience to the rest of the campus and really spread trees everywhere, where there’s students.”
“The trees have such a calming effect,” Garcha added.
“It’s already helped not just students but teachers with emotional well-being,” she said. “I see a lot of people just sitting quietly with beautiful butterflies fluttering around them. It changes the culture of the school. I’m now just looking forward to what we will notice when the reading garden is open.
“What’s equally exciting,” Garcha continued, is that her students now use language about trees and can talk about what is eco-friendly: “Our school cadets are involved with the planting and taking care of the trees, and some of our teachers are introducing the subject into their curriculum.”
“Many of our parents were students here and they’re so happy their children have an improved school,” she said.
She replaced the old plain school sign that was at the front of the school with a much larger bright red one.
Bursting with positive energy, Garcha is anxious to share more about her school.
Salazar said he’s looking forward to the final planting of the Living Schoolyard with all of the other partners next month.
“The community is amazing with the teachers, students and parents and volunteers, I wouldn’t miss it,” he said.
“The secret is to have a great team,” said Garcha. “I have wonderful people I work with on campus and outside. You just need to find those people and bring them to your team and things can happen.”
“I’m so excited,” she added. “Dreams do come true.”
This story was produced by Ethnic Media Services in collaboration with the Laboratory for Environmental Narrative Strategies (LENS) at UCLA as part of the Greening American Cities initiative supported by the Bezos Earth Fund.
Diana Martinez and Alejandro Chavez co-wrote this fellowship story for the San Fernando Valley Sun, a bilingual Spanish-English newspaper reflecting the historical and cultural development of the San Fernando Valley since 1904.
“Pacoima Middle School Paves the Way With Living Schoolyard” is a story and photo essay featuring LAUSD’s largest greening project: an initiative to replace the asphalt of Pacoima Middle School, in the San Fernando Valley, with greenery, thanks to the help of volunteers and staff from local greening nonprofit TreePeople and a grant of nearly $800,000 from The California Natural Resources Agency’s Urban Greening Program.. The story features interviews with TreePeople staff, Pacoima Middle School staff and students, and LAUSD personnel.
