# FCPS Students to Help Design Lexington's First Community Schoolyard **Published:** 2026-10-20T15:12:00.000Z **Source:** [Fayette County Public Schools](https://www.fcps.net/post-details/~board/fayette-county-public-schools-news/post/fcps-students-to-design-community-schoolyard) **AI-generated:** yes (claude-haiku-5-5) **Canonical:** https://feeds.lexingtonky.news/article/fcps-students-to-help-design-lexington-s-first-community-schoolyard LEXINGTON, Ky. — Students in Fayette County Public Schools will help design Lexington's first [Community Schoolyard](https://www.tpl.org/our-mission/schoolyards), a project whose central goal is to ensure residents in underserved areas of the city live within a 10-minute walk of a park or green space, according to a [district announcement](https://www.fcps.net/post-details/~board/fayette-county-public-schools-news/post/fcps-students-to-design-community-schoolyard). Community Schoolyards convert underused school grounds into green, welcoming spaces that serve students during the school day and surrounding neighborhoods after hours and on weekends. Trust for Public Land's national model has delivered more than 400 such schoolyards across the country. The local pilot is supported by a $200,000 grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to a Lexington coalition that includes People for Parks, FCPS, Trust for Public Land, the University of Kentucky's Department of Landscape Architecture, the Blue Grass Community Foundation and other community organizations. The money comes through the 2026 Knight Cities Challenge, a $5 million open call for ideas in the 26 communities where the Knight brothers once owned newspapers, including the Herald-Leader. The one-year grant will fund groundwork for a pilot schoolyard in an underserved neighborhood, along with a framework for replicating the model across district campuses. The work falls into three areas. The coalition will develop a shared-use agreement that allows a schoolyard to serve students during the school day and neighbors after hours, reusable for future sites. Students, working with community partners, will gather data on candidate schoolyards, and the pilot will be chosen for its park-equity impact and for a willing partner school. Finally, students will lead the design of the pilot, guided by UK landscape architecture faculty and informed by input from families and neighbors. Trust for Public Land research cited in the announcement found that students at revitalized schoolyards are 1.5 times more likely to engage in meaningful physical activity, that community use triples after a schoolyard opens, and that children's visits increase nearly sixfold. The project builds on Lexington's 2024 Park Fund vote, led by the Yes For Parks organization, now known as People for Parks, in which more than 84,000 voters approved dedicated annual funding for parks. Violet Celestin, an eighth grader at Crawford Middle School, said everyone deserves a park they can walk to, noting that parks often are developed near higher-income neighborhoods. Crawford eighth grader Gad Mutembo said nearby parks promote health and community gatherings. Tresine Logsdon, sustainability coordinator for FCPS, said student perspectives on how public green space is valued and used in Lexington are essential to exploring a Community Schoolyard in the city. FCPS Interim Superintendent Bill Bradford said the opportunity lets students exemplify the district's [Portrait of a Graduate](https://www.fcps.net/portrait), particularly civic engagement. "The grant funding itself, as well as the coalition working to develop the Community Schoolyard, allows our students an authentic experience to impact change in the community," Bradford said. ## Sources - [Fayette County Public Schools](https://www.fcps.net/post-details/~board/fayette-county-public-schools-news/post/fcps-students-to-design-community-schoolyard) - [Trust for Public Land, Community Schoolyards program](https://www.tpl.org/our-mission/schoolyards) - [Fayette County Public Schools, Portrait of a Graduate](https://www.fcps.net/portrait) --- This article was generated by AI (claude-haiku-5-5) based on source material from Fayette County Public Schools. The original source is available at https://www.fcps.net/post-details/~board/fayette-county-public-schools-news/post/fcps-students-to-design-community-schoolyard.