Another schoolyard in Scranton will be converted from an underused outdoor space into a vibrant school and neighborhood asset.
A schoolyard improvement project at John G. Whittier Elementary School at 700 Orchard St. in South Side would be similar to one completed last year at the John F. Kennedy Elementary School at 2200 Prospect Ave., also in South Side. Both projects involved a collaboration of the Trust for Public Land, the Scranton School District, the city of Scranton and the nonprofit Valley in Motion.
“The Scranton School District is excited to join with these partners,” school board President Tom Borthwick said of the Whittier project. “It’s important for us to make sure that our kids have healthy spaces where they can be physically active and enjoy themselves in their school communities.”
In the Kennedy schoolyard project, pupils from that school helped design the transformation of an asphalt parking lot behind the school into a modern playground and an oasis for play, as well as a community park space for the 2,500 residents who live within a 10-minute walk of the Kennedy school fronting on Prospect Avenue.
Children who two years ago while in third grade helped design a new community schoolyard playground at John F. Kennedy Elementary School in Scranton participated in a ribbon-cutting during a grand-opening celebration of the schoolyard on Friday, June 6, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
Gus Fahey, president of Valley in Motion, makes remarks at the opening of a new community schoolyard June 6, 2025, at John F. Kennedy Elementary School in South Scranton. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
The new community schoolyard playground at John F. Kennedy Elementary School in Scranton during a ribbon-cutting and grand-opening celebration on Friday, June 6, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
The new community schoolyard playground at John F. Kennedy Elementary School in Scranton during a ribbon-cutting and grand-opening celebration on Friday, June 6, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
The new community schoolyard playground at John F. Kennedy Elementary School in Scranton during a ribbon-cutting and grand-opening celebration on Friday, June 6, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
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Children who two years ago while in third grade helped design a new community schoolyard playground at John F. Kennedy Elementary School in Scranton participated in a ribbon-cutting during a grand-opening celebration of the schoolyard on Friday, June 6, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
Similarly, the Whittier schoolyard space — which is behind the school between Galvin Place and Hemlock Street — had pupil involvement in design concepts and when completed also would be open to the public after school hours, said Valley in Motion President Gus Fahey.
The Whittier Schoolyard Project aims to improve the environment by better controlling stormwater runoff at the site, which has a fairly large drop in elevation between Galvin Place and Hemlock Street below, Borthwick and Fahey said.
In rainy weather, the Whittier lot behind the school becomes very wet and muddy and essentially unusable, Fahey said.
“It’s multilayered and that site has a lot of drainage problems, and this particular project will fix a lot of that,” Fahey said.
The Trust for Public Land — a national organization committed to creating parks and protecting land for people, to ensure healthy, livable communities — seeks bids until April 1 on the Whittier schoolyard project’s construction services, including all labor, materials, equipment and facilities necessary to complete the playground improvements, according to public notices in The Times-Tribune on March 3 and 10.
“We hope to go into construction in summer, if not sooner, and complete the project in August,” Fahey said.
A third collaborative schoolyard improvement project, for the Frances Willard Elementary School, 1100 Eynon St. in West Side, also is in the planning pipeline and hopefully would get done in 2027, Fahey said.