When crowded classrooms pushed Swampscott, Mass., to consider building a new high school, some innovative thinkers saw another opportunity.
The town鈥檚 senior center was ailing, and the only handicap accessible area was in the basement. But because there鈥檚 limited land available in Swampscott, building a new, standalone senior center was a tough sell.
Still, community leaders recognized the need. The town鈥檚 elderly population was growing, matching (and expected to eventually surpass) the number of school-age children. Now, more than 15 years later, the town has both the high school and senior center it long needed, with the two located together on a single plot of land.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a great opportunity to have them really close and to be able to collaborate in really fun, unique ways,鈥� said Swampscott High School Principal Dennis Kohut. 鈥淭hey love to collaborate and so do I, so it鈥檚 just a no-brainer鈥攚hy would you not?鈥�
Swampscott, a town of 15,000 north of Boston, could be a model to follow as more communities are tasked with balancing students鈥� needs with the needs of an aging population.
Swampscott鈥檚 project was a $54.5 million investment, which has been more than worthwhile, Kohut said.
While the high school and senior center, which opened in 2007, are located in the same building, each is concentrated in its own area, with separate entrances. The high school does, however, sometimes share its communal spaces鈥攍ike the cafeteria, gym, fitness center, dance studio, computer labs, and lecture halls鈥攚ith the senior center, and students and seniors often intermix.
Sometimes seniors who are war veterans speak to a high school history class, and students known as 鈥淭ech Ninjas鈥� volunteer to teach seniors how to work technology. Students can drop by the senior center to learn how to knit or cook.
鈥淪ome of that slowed down during the pandemic because it just wasn鈥檛 safe, but we鈥檙e seeing it pick back up again, and it鈥檚 opportunities the kids never would have thought they鈥檇 have, so it鈥檚 really cool to see,鈥� Kohut said.
Changing demographics
The nation鈥檚 post-World War II baby boom between 1946 and 1964 led to a sudden influx of school-age children that strained districts across the country as they fought to keep pace with quickly increasing enrollments in schools that were often already crowded or in poor shape.
Now, those boomers are mostly in their 60s and 70s, and the country鈥檚 birthrate and public school enrollment are declining, prompting researchers and policy experts to question how shifting demographics could affect how future schools are built and operated.
Swampscott has been no exception to those trends.
The town鈥檚 high school鈥檚 student population has dropped by more than 90 in the past decade, according to state enrollment data. The high school this year enrolls 641 students.
Seniors 65 and older, meanwhile, have seen their share of the population grow, to 18.6 percent of the population from 17.7 percent , according to U.S. Census data.
It鈥檚 a great opportunity to have them really close and to be able to collaborate in really fun, unique ways. They love to collaborate and so do I, so it鈥檚 just a no-brainer鈥攚hy would you not?
鈥淢y feeling is that public schools of the future will be more mixed-use,鈥� said Jeff Vincent, the director of public infrastructure initiatives at the Center for Cities and Schools at the University of California, Berkeley. 鈥淕iven the changing dynamics of enrollment and pressures on school systems to do more, to serve communities outside of school hours, in the future we鈥檒l have more of these examples of sharing campus space with other government offices or nonprofits to serve more of the community.鈥�
Opportunities for innovation
Schools鈥攚here children go to learn, people gather for events and meetings, and organizations offer services like free meal distributions鈥攁re the epicenters of their communities.
That鈥檚 especially true in small, rural communities, where there are fewer nearby resources and service providers.
But rural communities are at special risk of losing their schools as they feel the impact of declining enrollments and make moves to close or consolidate campuses, . With school buildings closed, large swaths of the country could effectively be left without access to a community facility.
鈥淲e often close and consolidate schools in poor and underserved neighborhoods, so they lose that last public institution,鈥� said Mildred Warner, a professor in the department of city and regional planning at Cornell University who specializes in restructuring government services. 鈥淭here are opportunities to think more expansively about schools. I think we can do better, and I think we need to do better.鈥�
Districts don鈥檛 have to go to the same lengths as Swampscott, but they could put more effort into making schools a community resource, Warner said. And it doesn鈥檛 always require tearing down and rebuilding a school.
Unused classrooms could be used for child care, Warner said. The school could be the congregate meal site for older adults. Seniors could come read to young children (providing important socialization opportunities for both groups). Schools could grant more access to gyms, libraries, and playgrounds.
If the benefits of expanding access to community services aren鈥檛 enough, there could be financial incentives for districts, too.
School funding is generally based, at least in part, on enrollment. So fewer students means a smaller financial investment from state governments, even as schools must address historic lapses in learning and increased social and mental health needs.
But providing resources and opportunities that appeal to a broader swath of the population could be just the incentive lawmakers need to earmark extra dollars, Warner said.
And other city agencies would be more likely to put money from their budgets toward mutually beneficial projects.
In addition, community members are still often willing to contribute more in taxes to fund their local schools, Warner said.
鈥淢ore people will vote yes, because they鈥檙e still connected to the school, even though their kids have long since graduated,鈥� Warner said.
Those added dollars could go toward facility upgrades and upkeep, Warner said.
Addressing concerns
There are, however, many valid concerns about mixing school and community operations.
Granting more people access to school facilities could lead to more opportunities for vandalism, for example. More casually intermixing community members with the school could lead to safety concerns, especially in the age of school shootings and other threats.
School districts could be sued for accidents or injuries that occur on their properties. And, logistically, staff must be available to lock and unlock facilities, and not all districts have somebody on call to unlock the gym for public use at 6 a.m.
Researchers, however, believe most, if not all, of the concerns could be addressed through intentional building design and school district partnerships with other organizations.
If a new school is being built with public use in mind, designers could limit shared areas to particular wings of the school that could be configured to block access to the school鈥檚 main sections, Vincent suggested.
Schools and other agencies that use the space could share the cost of additional security measures, like metal detectors or security staff, and additional insurance.
Joint use agreements detailing what each agency is responsible for in terms of costs and staffing could also be useful, Vincent said.
鈥淚 think that鈥檚 an important, proactive approach,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 know schools are under a lot of pressure, and they鈥檙e sometimes frustrated because they鈥檙e being asked to do so much, but I don鈥檛 think we鈥檙e asking them to take this all on themselves. We鈥檙e asking that they step out of silos a bit and bring in partnerships.鈥�
Modern examples
There are already some examples of communities offering services in schools.
Districts across the country have invested in school-based health centers in partnership with local health departments or other health-care providers, where students, and sometimes their families, can receive basic health care like vaccinations and check-ups.
Some schools have planted community gardens or serve as distribution sites for free meals for families in poverty.
鈥淵ou mostly see schools being sort of reconfigured or just using the space they already have for those kinds of things because not every place has the luxury of rebuilding or redesigning the school for those kinds of community uses,鈥� Vincent said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 whatever鈥檚 opportunistic with what鈥檚 happening locally.鈥�
In Swampscott, where school and senior center leaders have spent the past decade and a half refining their partnership, Kohut, the school鈥檚 principal, said their experience has been overwhelmingly positive.
鈥淎s communities change and evolve,鈥� he said, 鈥淚 think the model that we鈥檝e seen so much success in is something for other schools to at least really consider.鈥�
