‘Greenest School’ Not Resting on Its Laurels For Sara Roberts, winning the title of “Amer-
ica’s Greenest School” was an honor that gave her the opportunity to show off all the hard work the students in her combined third/fourth grade class have been doing to give their school a green makeover. After applying for a Green School Mini Grant from the KIDS Consortium program, the school divided their classes into teams, with Roberts’ class starting the Waste Watchers project, which focused on conserv- ing electricity, water, paper, food and plastic. Te class has accomplished their goal of install- ing motion sensors in the bathrooms, installing gutters to divert water into a rain barrel, using donated paper from companies as scrap paper, collecting food scraps for their composter, and collecting plastic spoons and forks and washing them so they could be reused. “Te students are learning that they can apply
important school skills to help others and the environment,” said Roberts. “Tey are also learn- ing that their important life work starts now, not just when they become adults. With our focus on the environment, students are learning that by doing their small part to take care of the earth, they can inspire others to do the same.” Te students of South Shore Charter Public
School (SSCPS) are also educating their parents and the entire community of Norwell, Mass. Te school held a fundraiser, selling rain barrels and composters to raise not just money, but awareness and caring for the environment. “Start with simple ideas, like remembering to
turn off the lights. Te idea is that if everyone does their small part we can make a big difference,” add- ed Roberts, whose students are excitedly awaiting the arrival of their new IC Bus hybrid school bus.
Virginia Beach ‘Builds’ Sustainability For the last five years, Virginia Beach City
Public Schools (VBCPS) has been starting from the ground up in its green efforts by construct- ing buildings that are designed to reduce its imprint on the local environment. Te district has been applying LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) building methods, which were developed by the U.S. Green Build- ing Council, a non-profit trade organization
that promotes sustainability in building con- struction and operation. “Like most school districts across the country,
VBCPS leaves a large environmental footprint. Our objective is simple. Be part of the solu- tion, not the problem,” said Tim Cole, Virginia Beach’s sustainable schools project manager. Currently, the district is applying that mental-
ity to the construction of its new transportation facility, which includes four wind turbines that generate energy to help with the building efforts. Te district was also able to save approximately $50,000 during the 2008-2009 school year with its no-idle policy for school buses. By practicing what they preach, the district’s employees are showing the students and the broader commu- nity that environmental sustainability is not out of their reach. “We feel that by striving towards environ-
mentally sustainable practices we can save energy, reduce our carbon footprint, increase awareness about environmental sustainability, and be fiscally responsible with the taxpayers’ money at the same time,” added Cole. “I just hope that other school divisions around the country will look at us and realize that they can do it too.”
Reducing Transportation Waste Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, located ap-
proximately 10 miles from the border North Carolina shares with its southern cousin, has been instituting a number of programs to lessen the effect of transporting its approximately 113,000 eligible students. By implementing common neighborhood stops, the transportation depart- ment has been able to cut more than 11,000 bus stops and has reduced daily miles driven by 2 mil- lion miles annually. Carol Stamper, the executive director of trans-
portation, now operates all yellow buses with Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel and has retrofitted over 225 older model buses with a combination of diesel oxidation catalysts, diesel particulate fil- ters, and repowered engines, which was made possible by various grants totalling more than $1 million. Te school board also established a pol- icy on vehicle idling and its buses are monitored for idling daily through a fully implemented GPS technology solution.
www.stnonline.com 63
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