Delaware names state's first Green Ribbon schools
Three schools have been named the state’s first Green Ribbon award winners, becoming Delaware’s nominees for the national award.
The Green Ribbon program recognizes schools for exemplary achievement and considerable progress in three areas: 1) reducing environmental impact and costs; 2) improving the health and wellness of students and staff; and 3) providing effective environmental and sustainability education by incorporating STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), civic skills and green career pathways.
The 2013 Delaware Green Ribbon winners are:
*Red Clay Consolidated School District’s Conrad Schools of Science
*Red Clay Consolidated School District’s Richardson Park Elementary School in partnership with the Richardson Park Learning Center
*St. Andrew’s School (private)
The winners were honored today at a ceremony at Richardson Park, where two other schools also were recognized as honorable mentions: Red Clay’s Baltz and Heritage elementary schools.
“Congratulations to the educators, students, families and communities who are supporting each of these buildings for working to reduce their building’s environmental impact while championing student learning,” Secretary of Education Mark Murphy said. “Their collaboration has resulted in innovative initiatives that we hope other school communities across the state will learn from and build upon.”
In Red Clay, the work includes district-wide energy-efficiency upgrades that will reduce electric use by 28 percent, saving 7,537,061 kWHof electricity and 198,192 Therms of heating fuel annually as well as 10 million gallons of water. The project is the first of its kind in Delaware.
Both Conrad and Richardson Park also have undertaken efforts to reduce paper use and started composting programs. Students sort their lunches into trash, compost and recyclables. All left-over food, napkins, paper products and liquids are composted, significantly reducing the amount of solid waste, according to the schools.
Students are learning about the environment hands-on, too. For example, at Richardson Park Elementary, students plant, water and harvest vegetables in a garden behind the school. Learning Center students stay after school to learn about fly fishing and hiking the Appalachian Trail.
At St. Andrew’s, of the school’s 2,200 acres, 44 percent is devoted to purely ecologically beneficial uses and much of the rest is farmed in ecologically responsible ways. The school manages a rain garden by the school boathouse, swales by the school tennis court and several naturalized areas next to Noxontown Pond. The storm water runoff from the footprint of the newly constructed field house – which is LEED Gold certified – was reduced 94 percent due to a unique infiltration bed design, the school said.
The school uses environment and sustainability to develop STEM knowledge and thinking skills, too. Students in a mathematics economics class learn how environmental pollution often is treated as an externality and learn about the benefits of carbon emission trading. The biology curriculum is largely based on the environment with studies studying things such as how oak trees proliferate by collecting acorns outside and finding out how many were infested and thus unable to become an oak tree. Environmental science students conduct a year-long independent study of water quality on NoxontownPond as well as biodiversity studies of plants, insects and birds on campus.
“Congratulations to the three Delaware Green Ribbon winners and the Department of Education for promoting the Green Schools program,” said DNREC Secretary Collin O’Mara. “By working to reduce their environmental footprints, these three schools are outstanding examples of creating a prosperous and sustainable future through cost-efficient and energy-saving green buildings."
More information on each school and its work is available here.
|
Delaware's Department of Education is committed to promoting the highest quality education
for every Delaware student by providing visionary leadership and superior service.
|
Contact Info.
Alison Kepner Delaware Department of Education 401 Federal Street, Suite #2 Dover, Delaware 19901 Phone: (302) 735-4035 Fax: (302) 739-4654 Email: akepner@doe.k12.de.us |
Other Press Releases |
