ED Will
Visit Schools in Three States on New England Leg of ‘Education Built to Last’
Facilities Best Practices Tour
Special Advisor to the Secretary
Donald Yu and U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools Director
Andrea Falken will visit U.S. Department of Education
Green Ribbon Schools in Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts with
Regional EPA Administrator Curt Spalding on Monday and Tuesday, July 29 and 30,
to see and discuss the ways school facilities can enhance the conditions for
learning. Federal officials will
be joined by commissioners of education from these
states, local superintendents, and other local, state, and regional
stakeholders as they visit several award-honored schools in each state.
The visit will include tours of
school buildings and grounds, conversations with students and teachers
regarding environmental education, health and sustainability, and discussions
with key partners and energy management personnel. In addition, all state and district facilities personnel
from the region are invited to attend the opening panel and listening session
on July 29th in Providence, RI.
The listening session will allow facilities experts in the region to share best
practices on school facilities and provide input to ED.
The
Agenda
Come join us on July 29th and 30th for a conversation
on school facilities!
Monday, July 29th
Rhode Island
8:30
a.m. to 9:00 a.m.
Registration
at Providence Career and Technical Academy- 41 Fricker St., Providence, RI 02903
9:00 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.
Panel and Facilities Best Practices Listening Session with
Rhode Island Commissioner Deborah Gist, Rhode Island
Department of Education and Susan Lusi, Superintendent Providence Public
Schools District
10:45
a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Tour Providence Career and Technical Academy- 41
Fricker St., Providence, RI 02903
11:45
a.m. to 12:45 p.m.
Tour Nathan Bishop Middle School- 101 Sessions St., Providence, RI 02906
Connecticut
2:45 p.m. to 3:45 p.m.
Tour Common
Ground High School- 358
Springside Ave., New Haven, CT 06515
4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Tour
Barnard Environmental Studies Magnet School- 170
Derby Ave., New Haven, CT 06511
Tuesday, July 30th
8:30 a.m.
to 9:30 a.m.
Tour Environmental
Sciences Magnet at Mary Hooker- 440
Broadview Terrace, Hartford, CT 06106
Massachusetts
1:00
p.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Tour
Manchester-Essex Middle/High School with Mitchell D. Chester, MA Commissioner of
Elementary and Secondary Education- 36 Lincoln St., Manchester by the Sea, MA 01944
3:00
p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Tour
Quincy High School with Mark Sylvia, MA
Commissioner of the Office of Energy Resources- 100
Coddington St., Quincy, MA 02169
The
School Facilities:
As
PCTA was built on a renovated brownfield site, environmental impact and health
have become a part of the school’s curriculum. Through each of the school’s
five construction-based career and technical education programs, students
engage in outdoor experiential learning to complete skills on a job site,
focusing on green building technology. Energy data, usage and cost are
monitored through EPA ENERGY STAR
Portfolio Manager and data from the National Grid. Recent PCTA
renovations included installation of energy recovery HVAC units, state of the
art PDC controls with user interface and solar water heating, and waterless
urinals. The water used for heating and cooling is tested weekly and chemical
treatment is provided to balance pH levels and control germs to comply with
Narragansett Watershed requirements. The controls for the dual temperature
system operate pumps, chillers and boilers to optimize efficiency and eliminate
waste.
Originally
constructed in 1929, and renovated in 2009 according to criteria established by
the Collaborative for High Performance Schools, the
school is a tool for learning at Nathan Bishop. Nathan Bishop has integrated its energy management
efforts into the science curriculum by installing kiosks on campus for
displaying live energy data and demonstrating consumption trends in energy and
water. Twenty-five percent of the school’s energy use is derived from on-site
renewable energy generation.
When you enter Barnard’s lobby, you see a powerful
environmental studies theme that runs throughout the school: student artwork,
brightening and inspiring, decorates the corridors and illustrates the school’s
four overarching environmental themes: the studies of fresh water, energy,
migration, and the Long Island Sound estuary. The school’s courtyard garden,
greenhouses, and its nature center are spaces for the students to explore the
natural world as they take on the roles of gardener, naturalist, and
environmentalist. The school’s nature
center is adjacent to the West River and these wetlands provide an outdoor
classroom for students who go canoeing with the park rangers and actively
investigate the habitat of the West River. The school’s Yale University sponsored,
school-based health center educates students through age appropriate
workshops.
The school’s campus, a 20-acre demonstration farm at
the base of a state park in a city, creates a powerful learning
laboratory. Students collect data on
recycling and waste reduction on a weekly basis, and a paid team of students
manages recycling and composting programs.
A solar array on the roof demonstrates alternative energy options and
provides data for classroom manipulation, and a recent full-school lighting
retrofit has cut energy use. The school
has begun construction on a demonstration high-performing building, featuring a
solar array that will provide approximately 70 percent of electricity, and a
geothermal system will meet all heating and cooling needs. Rainwater gardens, an educational wetland,
and other features will demonstrate low-impact design. The school’s urban farm
grew more 7,000 pounds of fresh, sustainable, local produce last year. Students participate in more than a dozen
outdoor adventure trips every year, engaging 100 percent of urban students in
hiking, camping, and other outdoor experiences.
Environmental Sciences Magnet School at Mary Hooker
(ESM) serves students from pre-kindergarten through the 8th grade in
a new, $41,000,000 LEED Platinum facility, which includes a planetarium,
butterfly vivarium, greenhouse, aquatics lab, and organic community
garden. The school shares its
exceptional facility with the community through a joint-use agreement. ESM practices organic methods of gardening,
Integrated Pest Management (IPM), and composting; these methods are incorporated
into the curriculum at all grade levels and into parent-staff garden
workshops. Students participate in
Discovery Camp programs, where they participate in programs focused on team
building and outdoor education.
Manchester Essex Regional Middle High School, a Collaborative for High
Performance Schools building, constructed with recycled materials and
energy-efficient design principles, is home to a 650 gallon rainwater collection
tank and over 100 donated plants and trees.
The school achieved a 90 percent reduction in waste through the
installation of a state of the art Lucidomatic waste sorting system and the
implementation of a printing limits program through PaperCut software. Manchester Essex, which has reduced its
heating per square foot by nearly 58 percent over three years, meets 5 percent
of its energy needs through on-site solar panels. The edible schoolyard is a community-building
and educational tool that offers students and parents the opportunity to work
with the garden during the summer to raise awareness about local food and
organic gardening.
At Quincy High School, a career and technical school, the building’s
design allows for collaboration among AP biology and environmental science
students and their peers who are pursuing Nursing or Applied Medical Technology
specialties. Quincy collaborated with
the city’s planning department to participate in the USGBC Center for Green Schools
Green Apple Day of Service, which provided real-world instruction about the
importance of energy reduction and implemented a National Wildlife Federation
Cool Schools Energy Audit. The school’s
STEM wing is home to a greenhouse, where students are actively involved in
learning how to grow their own food.
Culinary students are responsible for front- and back-of-house service
at the wildly popular President’s Café, where student-grown herbs are used in
recipes. The school was certified by the
Massachusetts Collaborative for High Performing Schools in 2009 and EPA ENERGY
STAR in 2008. The school has continued
its efforts by retro-commissioning the building to ensure that it performs as
intended. (Pictured below)
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