SOUTH PORTLAND – Creating usable green space from an interior courtyard at South Portland High School is one of the priorities of the school’s Sustainability Committee.

To that end, next week the committee will hold a design workshop with students, staff and community members to talk about how to best use the courtyard for a variety of educational and community purposes.

At the design workshop, which will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 10, from 12:30-3:25 p.m., in the Learning Commons, local landscapers Shelly Tallack and Sarah Witte will lead the discussion.

The overall goal, according to English teacher Tania Ferrante, who heads the Sustainability Committee, is to come up with a plan for the courtyard that is “practical, beautiful and accessible for educational and service learning opportunities.”

In addition, Ferrante said, any plan must also be both cost-conscious and low-maintenance. A $1,800 grant from Portland Trails has made the assistance of Tallack and Witte possible, she added.

This week Tallack, who owns Shelly Tallack Landscape Design, said that as a South Portland resident “it matters to me a great deal that students and staff at the school have a safe outdoor space that can support learning activities beyond the walls of a classroom.”

She also said that it’s been “a privilege” to work with Witte, who is a local landscape architect with experience in schoolyard greening projects.

Tallack said “many ideas have (already) been captured” regarding how to use the courtyard space through a survey of students and staff. But during the design workshop “members of the wider community will (also) be able to put forward their vision.”

Following the workshop, she and Witte will incorporate the ideas generated into their concept designs. Some of the features could include a food garden, classroom space, native gardens and space for physical activity, Tallack said.

“We will also explore the courtyard’s potential as a venue for community events, such as music performances or art shows. Our goal is to create a beautiful green space to be enjoyed from both inside the building and out,” she said.

Issues that must be addressed include ease of access, shelter from the elements and the safety of users, Tallack added.

“We also need to think about the impact that an outdoor teaching space could have on overlooking classrooms,” she said. “We don’t want activities in the courtyard to distract or disrupt other classes.”

High school principal Ryan Caron told the Current this week, “I think it is great that we are looking to do something with the space and that students, staff and community members are going to be part of the process.”

He said the courtyard is a relatively large space that is visible from many of the classrooms at South Portland High.

Caron’s initial idea was to move the school garden from Highland Avenue to the courtyard, but said that Ferrante and her group “have taken it to another level. I think it is a great opportunity for students and staff members to work together to better the building that we all share every day.”

He’s not sure if he can attend the whole design workshop next week but does plan to be there for at least part of the meeting. Caron said his goal is to “hear the ideas of others at this point.”

Ferrante said the courtyard is located almost in the exact middle of the school and it was created during the two-year addition and renovation project that was completed earlier this year.

It is accessible from the art room, room 168 and the double doors near the auditorium and she wants to make the courtyard usable because “there are over a dozen classrooms facing this space, which is currently very unappealing visually.”

Her hope for the design workshop is that a “clarified, workable green vision (that) meets the needs of staff and students (and) that is realistic,” can be created.

If a workable plan is agreed upon, Ferrante said work on the courtyard project could begin in the spring of 2016. Whatever is done with it, the Sustainability Committee would take on the upkeep, she said.

The committee, she said, is composed of students and staff interested in “greening the school through various sustainability initiatives.”

With the completion of a two-year addition and renovation project at South Portland High School earlier this year, attention is now focused on how to best use a newly created interior courtyard. Courtesy photo