USGBC Releases Best of Green Schools 2013 List

January 15, 2014 1642 Views Banks County, Eastern U.S., Gran Kriegel Associates, Long Island City, PS78 Robert F. Wagner Jr. School, UNC Center for Civil Rights

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) announced its third annual Best of Green Schools list in December. The 2013 list recognizes top educational institutions, individuals and initiatives that are working toward the common goal of creating healthy, high-performing learning facilities across the country.
“In reviewing the nominations for the Best of Green Schools 2013 list, what we experienced more than anything was profound gratitude for the thousands of champions who are catalyzing the green schools movement and demonstrating to the nation and the world that where our children learn matters,” said Rachel Gutter, director of the Center for Green Schools at USGBC, in a statement. “This list represents exemplary leadership from schools, campuses, students, policy makers and more who are raising the bar when it comes to creating healthy, safe and resource-efficient schools.”
The recipients of the Best of Green Schools 2013 include:
• K-12 School – Lady Bird Johnson Middle School (Irving, Texas.): Lady Bird Johnson Middle School opened in 2011 as the first net-zero energy school in the state of Texas. At 152,250 square feet, it is also the largest net-zero educational facility in the country.
• Higher Education Institution – Emory University (Atlanta, Ga.): Emory University identified sustainability as one of its top priorities, with goals to help restore the global ecosystem, foster healthy living and reduce the university’s impact on the local environment. The school houses the highest number of LEED-certified square feet of any campus in America. Its latest project, a renovation of Language Hall, opened in fall 2013 and was designed to achieve LEED Silver certification.
• Ambassador – Lori Braunstein, Delaware Valley Green Building Council (DVGBC): As director for green schools at DVGBC, Braunstein developed a comprehensive strategy for engaging and supporting teachers, students, facilities managers and administrators to use sustainability programs in schools. She also initiated the statewide Pennsylvania Green & Healthy Schools Partnership to bring together key stakeholders from the green building, environmental education and health and wellness fields to work on an agenda for green and healthy schools.
• Policy Maker – Colorado State Sen. Andy Kerr: Kerr, a strong proponent of green schools in Colorado and throughout the country for many years, successfully passed SB 13-279 in spring 2013. The bill requires all school districts in Colorado to build new schools or to reconstruct schools to the highest possible energy efficiency.
• Moment for the Movement – California Proposition 39, the Clean Energy Jobs Act: The new measure became effective in January 2013. Under Proposition 39, $2.5 billion over the next five years will be directed toward energy-efficiency construction projects and repairs that promote healthy, high-performing schools in California.
• Business Leadership – Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH): HMH, a Boston-based education company, continues to drive the conversation around sustainability education and the Common Core. HMH is also a partner of the Center for Green Schools’ Green Apple program, making a financial contribution in honor of school customers who switch from physical textbook samples to the (greener) virtual alternative.
• Community Event – Green Apple Day of Service event at Duckett’s Lane Elementary School (Elkridge. Md.): Grimm+Parker Architects, Dustin Construction and the students, principal and staff of Duckett’s Lane Elementary School coordinated a student-led scavenger hunt for environmental features in and around the new school on Sept. 29, 2013. Stations were set up to demonstrate how the building and site serve as teaching tools for the school’s environmental literacy curriculum.
• Collaboration – Celebrate Sustainability: Virginia Tech; the town of Blacksburg, Va.; and Sustainable Blacksburg, a local citizen’s group in the town, come together each year to host a week’s worth of events that recognize and celebrate the sustainability achievements of the school and the town over the previous year.
• Transformation – The Green Schools Academy (as led by Jenna Cramer, vice president of green schools for the Green Building Alliance): The Green Schools Academy program brings together private, public, parochial and charter schools to work toward sustainability and transformation in healthy schools for all children.
• Student Leadership – Bluegrass Youth Sustainability Council (Fayette County, Ky.): The Bluegrass Youth Sustainability Council (BYSC) is a project-based organization composed of students from all Fayette County high schools. Members meet monthly to discuss collaborative environmental outreach projects, partnership prospects and leadership and post-secondary opportunities in all areas of sustainability.