Everett Middle School Celebrates Yard Transformation in Partnership Between SFUSD, SFPUC, and SF Ed Fund
This press release was originally published on the San Francisco Unified School District's website.
San Francisco (August 22, 2025) - The San Francisco Unified School District’s (SFUSD) Everett Middle School will celebrate the grand opening of its newly renovated schoolyard, a nearly $6 million investment in a unique public-private partnership with SFUSD, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, and an anonymous donor through the San Francisco Education Fund (SF Ed Fund), in which the organization served as the fiscal sponsor.
The project transforms two acres of asphalt into a vibrant, multi-use play and learning space that also serves to meet the city’s stormwater management goals, capturing up to 1 million gallons of stormwater each year and helping relieve pressure on San Francisco's combined sewer system during heavy storms.
With extensive student and staff input, as well as collaboration between the three agencies, the yard now boasts a permeable turf field and new track, new basketball courts with striping for pickle ball and volleyball, four rain gardens and a rainwater harvesting cistern, as well as a shade structure and seating mounds and benches.
The middle school serves close to 400 students and includes one of the largest newcomer programs in the district, with 67% who qualify as low socioeconomic status (SES). Its yard transformation is the first of the bond-funded comprehensive Schoolyard Outdoor Learning projects to complete, and the district has several more in active construction around the city.
“The Everett yard is the result of nearly three years of planning, community input, and collaboration across different agencies in service of reimagining outdoor spaces for SFUSD students,” SFUSD Superintendent Maria Su said. “The project delivers on the district’s commitment to more engaging and environmentally resilient schoolyards that bring joy, inspire play, and improve learning conditions for all students.”
“This project shows what's possible through strong partnerships,” said San Francisco Public Utilities Commission General Manager Dennis Herrera. “With support from the San Francisco Unified School District, the San Francisco Education Fund, a private donor, and the SFPUC, we've created not just a system to manage stormwater, but a beautiful, educational space for students in the community. The green infrastructure helps rain soak into the ground, reduces flooding, and teaches the next generation the value of building climate resilience.”
The SFPUC’s Green Infrastructure Grant Program provided approximately one-third of the funding for this project. To date, the program has awarded $26.5 million to 26 projects (including 10 in partnership with SFUSD) that will collectively capture more than 16 million gallons of stormwater per year. That’s enough water to fill 24 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
These grant-funded projects are part of a broader, citywide strategy that includes green infrastructure the SFPUC is building in collaboration with City partners on public land and requirements for private developments to manage runoff on their properties under San Francisco’s Stormwater Management Ordinance. Together, all of these approaches are helping San Francisco remain on pace to meet its goal of capturing one billion gallons of stormwater annually through green infrastructure by 2050.
In early 2023, shortly after the SFPUC Green Infrastructure Grant was awarded to Everett Middle School, an anonymous donor – eager to transform the schoolyard – partnered with the SF Ed Fund to serve as fiscal sponsor for their contribution.
"SF Ed Fund is proud to have supported Everett Middle School for decades,” said Ann Levy Walden, CEO of the San Francisco Education Fund. “With the support of generous community members, especially the anonymous donor who contributed to this project, we can be a part of the special public-private partnership that has allowed us to contribute to making our public schools welcoming, efficient, and beautiful spaces for its students."
Learn more about the yard here.
Learn more about the SFUSD Bond Program here.
Learn more about the SFPUC’s Green Infrastructure Grant Program here.
Everett Schoolyard Photos
About SFUSD’s Bond Program
San Francisco Unified School District’s Bond Program manages voter-approved bond measure funds for capital improvement projects and major building upgrades. Bond measures were approved in 2003, 2006, 2011, and 2016, and the program has invested more than $2 billion in school facilities improvements around the district. Through these projects, SFUSD has renovated spaces in every school in the district over the past 20 years - including over 3.2 million square feet in buildings, 43 libraries, 46 kitchens, and more than 1.3 million square feet of play yards. The Bond Program makes a difference in the lives of SFUSD students and represents the largest funding source for SFUSD capital improvements in the district’s budget.
About the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) is a department of the City and County of San Francisco. It delivers drinking water to 2.7 million people in the San Francisco Bay Area, collects and treats wastewater for the City and County of San Francisco, and meets 75% of the electricity demand in San Francisco. The SFPUC’s mission is to provide customers with high quality, efficient and reliable water, power, and sewer services in a manner that values environmental and community interests, and sustains the resources entrusted to the agency's care. Learn more at sfpuc.gov.
About the San Francisco Education Fund
The San Francisco Education Fund (SF Ed Fund) advances equitable education by providing quality learning programs, community support, and financial resources to students, educators and schools. The SF Ed Fund was founded in 1979 as a response to Proposition 13 decimating funding for public education in California, and since then they have consistently mobilized the San Francisco community to champion equitable access to quality education for all public school students. As the first third-party intermediary in the nation focused solely on uplifting local public school teachers, students, and their schools, the SF Ed Fund has spent 45 years building a powerful legacy of community engagement and quality learning.
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