Nestled in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, the Boulder Valley School District (BVSD) encompasses 56 schools and stretches from the peaks of the Continental Divide to the suburbs of Denver. This forward-thinking school district has been dedicated to sustainability for decades, but when the COVID-19 pandemic forced students, teachers, and staff to retreat to their homes for remote education in March 2020, the BVSD made finding sustainable, healthy learning solutions a top priority.

In October 2020, we spoke with the BVSD’s sustainability coordinator, Dr. Ghita Carroll, about the district’s efforts to use outdoor spaces to increase opportunities for in-person learning. We also heard from Lucas Ketzer, the principal at Horizons K–8, charter school in BVSD located in Boulder, where dedicated staff members and community support led to the school installing giant white tents in which younger students could learn outside in the fresh air. At the time of our initial conversation, kindergarten through second-grade students were back on campus throughout the district, and plans were underway to bring all students back to campus in the weeks following.

Six months later, in late April 2021, we followed up with Dr. Carroll to hear more about how the district’s outdoor learning plans had unfolded during the challenging fall and winter months of 2020 and how things were going at the start of spring. At that point, all primary and secondary students who wanted to return to campuses had returned for four days each week, and many of those students were taking advantage of outdoor learning. Updates from April 2021 are included below.

Dr. Carroll also gave a presentation for the National Outdoor Learning Initiative’s Community of Practice on October 12, 2021 and spoke about her school district’s new Sustainability Action Plan and their outdoor learning program during and beyond the pandemic. Please see the video (at right) to watch the October 2021 presentation.

District Education Data

• 56 schools

• 4.1 million square feet of operation

• 9 municipalities

• 3 counties

• 27,000 students and 4,000 staff

• $576.5 million bond (passed 2014)

• 1,908,288 meals prepared annually

Location

• BVSD is generally located over a mile above sea level at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains approximately 35 minutes northwest of Denver.

• BVSD spans a larger area than just the city of Boulder, Colorado, from lower elevation cities such as Broomfield, to higher elevation cities such as Nederland.

Climate

• Warm summers and cold, snowy winters; daytime temperatures typically range from 22°F to 87°F

• Precipitation: 88 days annually 

• Rain: 18 inches annually 

• Snowfall: 71 inches annually

  
  

Q: How did the Boulder Valley School District begin laying the foundation for outdoor learning in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic?

BVSD: After our school campuses closed in March 2020, we knew we needed to think out of the box. We looked to as many sources as we could find regarding how to reopen safely, and we took guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Harvard School of Public Health, Boulder County Public Health, and other leading institutions. Most, if not all, of them highly recommended using outdoor learning options to some capacity to bring students back to school safely. 

At the beginning of the summer, we announced a five-phase plan for reopening, with phase 1 being an all-remote scenario. Phases 2, 3, and 4 were hybrid variations, and phase 5 would welcome students back to campus for regular in-person instruction. Our goals for every phase of the plan were to ensure the health, well-being, and safety of all students and staff; maximize growth and achievement for our students; support our teachers and staff; and ensure operational and financial viability.

Q: Once you had your reintroduction plan in place, how did you make the plan a reality?

BVSD: We initially developed an outdoor learning team made up of six people. That has now grown to a list of 35 individuals, including district staff and principals; parents; city representatives; the executive director of Growing Up Boulder; University of Colorado, Boulder, students and staff; and more. We began looking at outdoor learning spaces at all of our BVSD schools and recognized that we are fortunate to have beautiful green spaces on our properties. In addition to great green spaces, we are happy to have weather that generally cooperates and students who know how to bundle up for different weather conditions.  

The outdoor learning team created a document that outlined existing designated outdoor spaces and noted seating capacity, shading, and other attributes. We were excited to see that most of our schools had at least one clearly defined outdoor learning space already and that there were many other green spaces available at all our sites. We also engaged in site walks and discovered that there were more usable options than we’d realized initially. People tend to look at the obvious—fields and play structures—but overlook other viable areas, like the perimeters of fields lined by shady trees. When we really explored our schoolyards, we found lovely spots where students could learn outdoors. We also noticed practical areas where classroom chairs could simply and easily be moved outside.

We distributed a survey to principals at the beginning of the year to help clarify which schools were thinking about outdoor learning and what types of things they needed to support their efforts. The outdoor learning team responded to all of the schools who responded by conducting site visits and providing follow-up resources.

BVSD Heroes: Outdoor Learning — Boulder Valley School District produced this video to show how they have implemented outdoor learning successfully. BVSD’s Sustainability Coordinator, Ghita Carroll, hopes that others will see that outdoor learning is doable and benefits students now and into the future. Video was produced in November, 2020.

Q: What does outdoor learning look like now across the grades?

BVSD: Outdoor learning is even more prominent now that all students are back and the spring weather has returned. Many students and teachers are using these spaces for a whole host of reasons. Secondary teachers are taking students out for walks, reading time, mask breaks, music lessons, lunch, and more. Elementary students are enjoying more time outside in gardens and are going outside for eating, learning activities, and additional fresh air time.

Q: What does the future of outdoor learning look like at BVSD, and do you have any tips you would like to share?

BVSD: We hope and plan to build on the work we have done in the past year to encourage teachers to continue to use the outdoors. We know the benefits of doing so go well beyond coping with the pandemic and include not only social and emotional benefits, but also opportunities for place-based learning, which reinforces essential skills that contribute to global citizenship, positive relationships, awareness, and advocacy.

Our advice to other districts is to meet teachers where they are. For some teachers, working with a group of students outdoors is a new concept (beyond recess). For these teachers, it is helpful to provide simple activities and information and support about group management outdoors. Other teachers are very comfortable outdoors and are ready for more. These teachers may be interested in additional lesson plan ideas that can be used outdoors or in infrastructure that can make extended time outdoors more manageable. We created a document that offers outdoor learning guidelines, from classroom seating suggestions to security and restroom considerations. We encourage everyone to think about how the spaces change throughout the year. For example, although shade may be important for late summer and early fall, other spaces are ideal as the weather cools. Mostly, we have stressed that using the outdoors is not only okay but encouraged, and we are here to help support that work!

On October 14, 2020, the U.S. Green Building Council’s Center for Green Schools and Green Schoolyards America co-hosted a webinar with school district leaders from across the country: “Outdoor Teaching in the Time of COVID: What You Need To Know.”

The webinar’s program featured speakers from Boulder Valley School District in Boulder, Colorado (as well as Falmouth Public Schools in Falmouth, Maine) who shared their inspiring work and discussed the planning and implementation processes they used to bring learning outside this year as a COVID-19 response. The event also highlighted the free online resources produced by the National COVID-19 Outdoor Learning Initiative, available on this website.

Webinar timing

0:00 Introduction
Phoebe Beierle, U.S. Green Building Council
8:10 National COVID-19 Outdoor Learning Initiative
Sharon Danks, Green Schoolyards America
28:00 Falmouth Public Schools, Falmouth, Maine
Justin Deri, Garden Coordinator, FPS
49:10 Boulder Valley School District, Boulder, Colorado
Ghita Carroll, Sustainability Coordinator, BVSD
1:04:00 BVSD’s Horizons K-8 School
Lucas Ketzer, Head of School
1 :13:20 Questions and discussion

Click on the video above to watch the webinar. Note: the presentation with Boulder Valley School Districts begins at 49:10.

“Growing Up Boulder, BVSD collaborate on outdoor education”
— Daily Camera, November 28, 2020

“The great outdoors: COVID-19-compatible learning experiences for all”
— CU Boulder Today, November 3, 2020

“No Bad Weather, Only Bad Clothing” - Episode 6
— I Heard it from Sam Podcast, November 1, 2020 (podcast)
Podcast conversation with staff at Ryan Elementary about their use of outdoor spaces, as well as Dr. Ghita Carroll and Stephanie Schroeder from the BVSD operations team.

“K-8 Moves Classrooms Outside For In-Person Learning”
— CBS News, October 9, 2020 (video on K-8 Horizons School)

“Boulder’s Horizons K-8 pilots outdoor classrooms”
— Daily Camera, September 30, 2020

“Back to School: In-person, Outside”
— Christian Science Monitor, September 8, 2020

resource links

“Outdoor Learning” — Boulder Valley School District

Outdoor Learning Weekly Wake Up Virtual Session — Boulder Valley School District

Sample Letter to Principals — Boulder Valley School District

Sample Learning Environments and Outdoor Classroom Protocols — Boulder Valley School District

BVSD “Weekly Wake-Up” — BVSD educators and partners who have been navigating outdoor learning share their experiences and best practices for schools and teachers who might be interested in expanding their classroom to the wide-open spaces near their school. This video is from February, 2021.