22 Shade Planning for America’s Schools Chapter 3 Prior to conducting stakeholder interviews, the planning team should secure a site plan. This is a drawing of the school grounds and buildings that has been drafted to scale. Often site plans are prepared by surveyors or architects, and may be available from the school’s principal or the office of the superintendent of the school district. With a site plan, interviewees can refer to activities in relation to the zones and features of the school grounds and interviewers can record the information directly onto the plan. When Is North Not Really North? The short answer is "Almost always!" There is almost always a difference between true north and magnetic north. Fluid motion in the outer core, which is the molten metallic region of Earth, causes the magnetic field to change unpredictably both over time and by location. Magnetic declination is the measurement of the angle between magnetic north and true north. For example, on July 4, 1955, the magnetic declination for Washington, D.C., was 6 degrees west of true north. On the same day in 2003, the magnetic declination was 10 degrees west of true north. To find out more about magnetic declination, visit The National Geophysical Data Center at: http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/seg/ potfld/declination.shtml Shade Planning Toolbox Behavioral Observations The next step in the planning process involves collecting data at the school site. Adequate data collection will require several visits to the school. Initial visits will be to observe outdoor activities conducted on the school grounds and document the usage patterns of students, teachers, and staff. Knowing in advance at what times the students can be expected to be outdoors will facilitate the process. Observers will want to document the types of activities taking place, the location in which they are occurring, the number of students participating, and their duration. Once again, it will be helpful for observers to have a site plan on which to make notes regarding outdoor student and teacher activities. Environmental Observations Other visits to the site are recommended in order to take measurements on school grounds without interfering with the school’s day-to-day activities. On these visits, an accurate site plan will be essential. If none is available, the planning team will need to draw a freehand plan of the site, recording the distances between the various buildings and play equipment. It might be helpful to name different zones if they do not already have names, such as queuing area or passive play area. It is also important to document any significant topographical features, such as low spots, slopes, or ravines, as these will influence decisions about which shade planning strategies will be most appropriate. The site plan should indicate the boundaries of the school’s property, which direction is north, and whether it is magnetic north or true north. Often there is an appreciable difference between the two. Determining true north will be important to ensure that shade is cast in the right place, at the right time of day, at the right time of year. It may also be important to mark the locations of important features outside of the school boundaries, such as the neighboring homes or businesses.
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