Green Schools Hold Mid-Year Meetings

California

Sponsored by Southern California Edison, the California Green Schools program held three meetings for its Southern California school participants: Hesperia Unified School District, Temecula Valley Unified School District, and Murrieta Valley Unified School District. Over 100 participants attended the meetings, in which school team members reviewed preliminary energy savings, revisited teacher lesson plans and shared successes and challenges from the first half of the year.

The California Green Schools program also introduced a Student Film Competition, encouraging Green Schools student teams to create and submit short, educational videos about energy efficiency to be awarded and screened during the End-of-Year Celebration in May. And, to kick off the second half of the year, team members from the Murrieta Valley District sat down to draft a district-wide energy policy.

District of Columbia

Saving Energy in DC Schools (SEDS) – the newest Green Schools program on the block – held a fun and successful mid-year meeting on the evening of February 5. What made the workshop especially exciting was the presence of about 40 students from the 4th to 12th grades, all of whom will be taking on leadership roles within their schools’ energy clubs and teams. With their school teams, these students discussed the roles they will carry out in order to best collect energy data on school buildings, make savings recommendations based on that data, and communicate savings opportunities to others in their schools and the community. These include:

• Energy Bill Analyzer – responsible for tracking and analyzing energy bills to look for emerging trends, amount spent on energy, and any eventual savings.
• Energy Audit Manager – responsible for heading up energy audits of the school, serving as a central receptacle for all data, and taking the lead on making savings recommendations based on the findings.
• Energy Outreach Organizer – responsible for finding creative and compelling ways to present school energy data and findings, and serving as liaison between students and others.

Within these roles, students of all ages can take the lead on school-wide energy saving projects, and develop the skills and interests relevant to careers in energy and sustainability.

The next SEDS meeting – an End-of-Year Celebration – will be in late May and open to the public. Students will showcase their energy projects; high-level special guests are expected to attend.

New York

The veteran Rochester City School District Green Schools Program held a Mid-Year meeting for participating schools, conveneing about 40 teachers and custodians representing a mix of high schools and middle schools from around the school district.

Each of the schools took turns sharing a few of their best activities from the first half of the school year. Teams have been very creative, undertaking projects such as developing a "going green" thematic instructional unit; educating school staff about centralizing classroom appliances; and instituting a weekend and school-break "checklist" to ensure devices are turned off and unplugged before long hiatuses. Teams also engaged in a discussion to brainstorm continued student leadership and involvement.