When communities plan new school facilities, it is important that they account for the full costs of moving the school out of the town center. A full and accurate comparison of the costs to build new rather than rehabilitate old will often prove it is more economically responsible and better for the health of the community to use existing buildings or to keep new facilities in central locations.

Tax dollars required to bus students out to distant schools, for example, are typically not included in decisions to relocate. Neither is the larger community cost of building and maintaining new roads and other infrastructure that comes when residential and commercial development follow outlying schools.

Traverse City recently built a second high school, for example, on farmland outside the city limits. Not long after the new Traverse City West Senior High School opened, the school district could no longer afford to provide transportation to the high school, which is too far for walking or bike riding. For two years parents and students had no choice but to use their own cars or the public bus. In August 2001 Traverse-area public schools once again began providing public transportation services for students.

Moving schools out of convenient, central locations also means, in most cases, moving into larger buildings with larger class sizes. Today more and more students find themselves in larger schools with total high school class sizes ranging on average from 800 to 1400 students. In some urban areas, consolidation has elevated these numbers to 2000 or 3000 students. Studies show that an average total class size of 400 to 800 is best for optimal student performance.

Alternatives, such as renovating older schools and putting any new facilities inside neighborhoods and town centers, have benefits that can outweigh any extra effort that might go into finding creative ways to keep schools and communities together. The advantages of neighborhood schools are rich and immeasurable. School children can walk down tree-lined streets, interact with their neighbors, patronize local businesses, and cultivate a sense of independence.

These interactions tie children to their community — and the community to its children — in invaluable ways. Smaller schools often promote better social bonding, self-esteem, and academic performance. Students are better able to connect with their friends and interact with teachers and other adults, as indicated by a significantly higher rate of participation in extracurricular activities at community-centered schools.

Reversing the trend of violence and isolation in schools is, in large part, a matter of reversing the direction we have taken with school construction. Schools are the center of family life. And they can be the center of communities in which people know each other and care for one another if we put them back in the heart of our towns. Reestablishing the smaller, walkable, town-centered school is the key to helping both parents and children feel safe again.

A version of this article was published in the September 2001 edition of Country Lines, the magazine of the Michigan Electric Cooperative Association.

Johanna Miller is the policy specialist at the Michigan Land Use Institute. Reach Ms. Miller at 231-882-4723 ext. 16 or joey@mlui.org.