Green Schoolyards
Our schoolyard redevelopment projects are transforming playgrounds across Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS).
MPS partners with Reflo, an environmental nonprofit that works with other organizations to design, construct, and renovate MPS schoolyards. Reflo combines environmental education, water management, and child’s play to create greener, healthier playgrounds. Each project is tailored to the specific needs and enthusiasm of the school’s community and can include outdoor classrooms, recreational facilities, and arts opportunities. Common improvements are:
- Removal of asphalt and concrete
- Installation of bioswales and cisterns
- Construction of outdoor classrooms
- Installation of green spaces and athletic facilities
- Planting of trees, shrubs, and flower beds
- Creation of natural spaces for children to think, work, relax, and play
From Reflo: Take a virtual tour of a green and healthy schoolyard!
Explore the schoolyard and learn more about Clement's journey from a sea of asphalt to interactive, learning spaces that highlight native species and promote biodiversity in Milwaukee.
Video courtesy of Reflo
Completed Schoolyards
As of January 2025, more than 30 MPS schools have redeveloped schoolyards:
- Academy of Accelerated Learning (2021)
- Allen-Field School (2021)
- Bay View Montessori School (2021)
- Lynde and Harry Bradley Technology and Trade School (2018; pilot school)
- A.E. Burdick School (2019)
- Clement Avenue School (2020)
- Anna F. Doerfler School (2020)
- Forest Home Avenue School (2024)
- Benjamin Franklin School (2022)
- La Escuela Fratney (2021)
- Frederick J. Gaenslen School (2023)
- Greenfield Bilingual School (2024)
- Hawley Environmental School (2019)
- Nathaniel Hawthorne Elementary School (2022)
- Hayes Bilingual School (2022)
- Richard Kluge Elementary School of the Arts (2023)
- Lincoln Avenue School (2024)
- H.W. Longfellow School (2019)
- Golda Meir School Lower Campus (2020)
- Milwaukee German Immersion School (2023)
- Milwaukee Sign Language School and Morse Middle School for the Gifted and Talented (2024)
- Alexander Mitchell Integrated Arts School (2023)
- Neeskara School (2022)
- North Division High School (2021)
- James Whitcomb Riley Dual Language Montessori School (2023)
- Frances Brock Starms Early Childhood Center (2019)
- Story Elementary (2024)
- Escuela Vieau (2018; pilot school)
- Harold S. Vincent School of Agricultural Science (2020)
- Westside Academy (2020)
- Clement J. Zablocki School (2022)
In-Progress Schoolyards
Fifteen MPS schools are currently in various stages of the planning process, from conceptual planning to fundraising to construction:
- Cass Street School
- Samuel Clemens School
- Ralph Waldo Emerson School
- 53rd Street School
- U.S. Grant School
- Humboldt Park School
- Albert E. Kagel School
- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. School
- Lowell International Elementary School
- Milwaukee French Immersion School
- Morgandale School
- Riverwest Elementary School
- Trowbridge Street School of Great Lakes Studies
- Walt Whitman School
- Wedgewood Park International School and Honey Creek Continuous Progress Charter School
Program Partners
- City of Milwaukee Department of Public Works
- City of Milwaukee Environmental Collaboration Office
- Environmental Protection Agency
- Fund for Lake Michigan
- Greater Milwaukee Foundation
- Great Lakes Restoration Initiative
- Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District
- National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
- Reflo
- UWM School of Architecture & Urban Planning Community Design Solution (CDS)
More Information
If you have any questions, please contact Heather Dietzel, sustainability project specialist, at dietzehm@milwaukee.k12.wi.us or (414) 283-4713.