places to hunt
When I have questions about parks and such, I usually start by calling the sheriff's office, then the Parks and Recreations department for the county. They can usually tel you one way or the other about statutes, etc. As for schools, they are considered private property, to an extent, and you should just ask them for permission. Here in Florida where I live, almost all of the schools in my city and surrounding areas have fences around them, as well as posted signs about trespassing. When I want to go to any place with a fence, I always ask for permission.
Also, keep an eye out for vacant/for sale lots. I call the realty company that has their signs on the lot for sale and get permission; they almost always give permission so long as I tell them that I just want to go over the property before anything gets built on it since there are so many subdivisions and shopping centers being built. If it appears to be just a regular vacant lot without a realty sign on it, I ask people that are neighbors to the lot if they know the owners or how I would get in touch with them in order to gain permission to hunt the lot. As you can tell, I'm all about permission because there are a lot of historic areas where I live, so I just like to be sure.
Along with that, and in conclusion, I've had a few instances in parks locally where I was told by the parks department groundskeepers that metal detecting was not allowed at all. So after calling the county to check on that to see if there were any ordinances for the county or town, was told that metal detecting was okay and that there were no ordinances. Now when I have a groundskeeper tell me that, I always make sure to tell them that I've talked to the county, their supervisors, that it is allowed, and then I usually talk to them for a while and give them any keys or whatever that are of no use to me, but that helps to gain rapport with them a bit for the future.
Aeryck