The Kent and Tahoma School Districts were honored today by the Department of Education as recipients of the second annual Green Ribbon Schools awards.
Glacier Park Elementary and Tahoma High School were recognized from Tahoma.
Students and staff at Glacier Park and local companies have partnered together to dramatically reduce the school’s waste, going from three weekly garbage pickups to one, changing the school’s culture. The program has demonstrated the value of sustainability education, and motivated school leaders to explore new ways to reduce Glacier Park’s environmental impact.To reduce stormwater runoff, Glacier Park has partnered with the City of Maple Valley to install a rain garden, and has replaced a section of the sidewalk with permeable concrete and uses two water barrels to collect water used to help irrigate the school garden.
Students work in Glacier Park’s vegetable garden, pick up litter, participate in planning and maintenance of the rain garden, conduct scientific observations, and are surrounded by examples of efforts by adults and students to sustain the environment. Through these activities, students learn about the environment, and specific topics such as the life cycles of plants and insects. They also learn that caring for the Earth equates to caring for each other. Glacier Park donates the food harvested from the school’s vegetable garden to the Maple Valley Food Bank. Last year, 300 pounds of food were donated.
Tahoma Senior High School demonstrates a strong commitment to sustainability—in the classroom and in the management of an 184,500 square foot school building constructed in 1971, where it reduced energy consumption by 33 percent over four years. Tahoma offers an Outdoor Academy that integrates AP Environmental Science with language arts and health and fitness. Activities include building and maintaining trails, planting native plants, and removing invasive species.Tahoma also offers Global Academy, in which students focus on the interrelationships between sustainability, the environment, and society, facilitates students in working with local government to learn how it is meeting the requirements of the Clean Water Act. Seniors in this program complete a self-selected 20 hour project. Field learning is a key part of Tahoma’s approach to sustainability education. Students visit McKinstry Company to learn about the application of sustainability practices in the energy industry, and Safeco Field, to learn how the Seattle Mariners baseball team manages the waste produced by thousands of fans. Additional field experiences include hiking and trail restoration, working on-site with Friends of the Cedar River Watershed, and helping prepare the well-known Watershed Report.
Kent was recognized as the first ever winner of the District Sustainability Award. Kent, the fourth larges and the most diverse district in the state was recognized for adopting sustainable design standards, reducing energy use and costs, improving health and wellness, and strengthening environmental education over the past 15 years.
Among the accomplishments of the district are its Going Gold program, which limits irrigation and sprinkler use to play fields. The district has also installed aerators on all sink faucets, and motion sensors on new faucets. This resulted in a 65 percent reduction in irrigation water use and a 32 percent reduction in domestic water use over four years.
In addition, 90 percent of the district’s schools participate in King County’s Green Schools Program. The program has helped the district reduce the volume of garbage disposed by more than 50 percent, and increase recycling by more than 50 percent.
KSD teaches environmental topics across all elementary school grade levels. It uses Full Option Science System kits to integrate environmental education with problem-solving and communication lessons. Elementary schools partner with the City of Kent Parks Department to assist with tree planting. Since 2000, students have planted over 24,000 native trees and shrubs. Each child gets to plant, and take home, a bare root native tree shrub in a 1 or 2 gallon pot. High school environmental science courses emphasize career development and experiential learning. They regularly feature guest speakers, projects, labs, and computer simulations.
“Today’s honorees are modeling a comprehensive approach to being green,” said Arne Duncan, US Secretary of Education. “They are demonstrating ways schools can simultaneously cut costs; improve health, performance and equity; and provide an education geared toward the jobs of the future. In fact, the selected districts are saving millions of dollars as a result of their greening efforts. And the great thing is that the resources these honorees are using are available for free to all schools.”
