MEDIA ADVISORY - Rolando Park Elementary Students, Community to Celebrate Grand Opening of Highly Anticipated Joint-Use Fields

Posted on 12/16/2021

 

 

 

 

 

 

MEDIA ADVISORY

Rolando Park Elementary Students, Community to Celebrate
Grand Opening of Highly Anticipated Joint-Use Fields

WHAT:

San Diego Unified School District Board of Education President Dr. Sharon Whitehurst-Payne and Interim Superintendent Dr. Lamont Jackson will join former San Diego City Councilmember Marti Emerald, students, staff and the community in celebrating the opening of two joint-use fields that will bring much needed park space to the growing neighborhood of Rolando Park.

WHEN:

Friday, Dec. 17, 2021
10:00 - 10:40 a.m.

WHERE:

Rolando Park Elementary School*
6620 Marlowe Dr.
San Diego, CA 92115
*See map at the end of this advisory for parking and event location.

VISUALS:

10:00 - 10:01 a.m. - Fifth grade student leads Pledge of Allegiance
10:01 - 10:17 a.m. - Speakers, ribbon-cutting ceremony
10:17- 10:40 a.m. - Media one-on-ones (Spanish interviews will be available).
Pre-recorded sound with Rolando Park Elementary P.E. teacher, Bryan Basteyns,
can be found here.
Before and after drone video and stills of the fields can be found here.

GUEST SPEAKERS/INTERVIEWS:

Dr. Sharon Whitehurst-Payne, Board of Education President, San Diego Unified
Dr. Lamont Jackson, Interim Superintendent, San Diego Unified
Martha “Marti” Emerald, Former City Councilmember, City of San Diego
Andy Field, Director of Parks and Recreation, City of San Diego
Anthony DeLuca, Principal, Rolando Park Elementary
Lynn Edwards, Co-President, Rolando Park Community Council
Betty White, Former President, Rolando Park Community Council
Javier Carter, Fifth Grade Student, Rolando Park Elementary

BACKGROUND:

San Diego Unified, the Rolando Park Community Council (RPCC), and the City of San Diego began discussions for a possible park on the upper field at Rolando Park Elementary (RPE) in 2011. During that time, members of RPCC met with the RPE principal, city councilmember, and board of education trustee.

In 2012, local taxpayers and voters passed Proposition Z to repair, renovate, and revitalize district schools. The $2.8 billion proposition, coupled with 2008’s Proposition S, provided the district with the opportunity to bring desired renovations to fruition. Seizing the opportunity, former Superintendent Cindy Marten helped launch the Play All Day partnership with the City of San Diego in 2016 to create more parks in park-deficient communities throughout San Diego.

Under the Play All Day initiative, the district and the city share resources to expand access to park space. The city and district developed a joint-use agreement for Rolando Park Elementary and developed a plan to complete both the upper and lower fields at the same time. A community input process to develop the General Development Plan (GDP) for the park began in 2017. The GDP went to the Board of Education and the City of San Diego Parks and Recreation Board, where it received final approval in 2018.

Construction began in Fall 2020 and completed in Fall 2021.

Now complete, the joint-use field project at Rolando Park Elementary includes two natural grass fields: a 1.8-acre upper field with 0.22 miles of walking/running track, and a 0.9-acre lower field with 0.17 miles of walking/running track. Along with the walking/running tracks, both fields include secure perimeter fencing, irrigation systems, newly planted trees, trash receptacles, and improved landscaping. New benches, picnic tables, shade trees surround the existing play equipment and a new parking lot with permeable paving stalls and security lighting were constructed as well.

As part of the Play All Day partnership, the joint-use field is accessible to the community as a local park after school hours and during school breaks.

Located in Mid-City’s Eastern community planning area, Rolando Park Elementary focuses on the CA Common Core Standards in English Language Arts (ELA), Math, and Science. Its Smarter Balanced State testing scores for both ELA and Math have soared since 2015 and, in 2019, the school won the prestigious “America’s Best Urban School” award from the National Center for Urban School Transformation, located at San Diego State University. The California Department of Education also named RPE a 2020 California Distinguished School.

EVENT/PARKING MAP:

RELATED LINKS:

A virtual groundbreaking video can be found here.

Rolando Park History. 

Information for the Play All Day Parks program can be found here.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Jamie Ries, Facilities Communication Liaison, San Diego Unified, 619-855-9283, [email protected].