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New Jersey Green Schools
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New Jersey Green Schools
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What’s one of the most impressive indicators that a school district considers a
program of value? In our minds, it’s when the district continues that program
with the district’s own resources. And that’s exactly what both Brick Township
Schools and Toms River Regional Schools are doing this year with Green Schools. Global Learning initiated Green Schools in these two districts with outside funding from the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities’ Office of Clean Energy. Even though this project funding has expired this fall, Brick and Toms River are continuing Green Schools activities for this school year.
The Toms River Green Schools Program began with a one-day training in July and then the second day’s training in September. Thus Toms River benefited from a full year’s programming.
Electris Hop! She's Electris! (She's Electris!) You can turn the lights off She's got to move Are you learning from her? Some say she's awesome Ribbit, Ribbit Save Energy Help save our earth. Get up and make it happen. See what it’s worth. Stand up and take some action. We know that you can change the world, if you just plan it. Deep in your heart is the answer. Find it; we know it will pull us through.
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Featuring
the Brick Township and
These decisions are encouraging, but not surprising, given the extremely
positive results achieved last year by the enthusiastic and energetic Green
Schools Teams operating in 31 schools across the two districts. Six original
Green Schools in Brick from the 2004-05 school year were joined by 8 more
schools in February at our two day training and formal kick-off event. Most of
the original Teams had begun their year’s activities on their own initiative
prior to this rather late kick-off.
One of the Green Schools Program’s major assets is the flexibility afforded
to each school team to adapt the educational and conservation resources to their
own needs and interests. We have witnessed great creativity in the ways Green
Schools Teams decided to introduce the program to the rest of their school
community, including both staff and students. Teams posted signs like, “Green
Schools is coming…” and wore similar buttons announcing “Green Schools…ask me
about it.” Then they made program presentations to faculty and staff meetings
where curiosity had been pre-stirred. One team provided training in the use of
the energy monitoring tools of the Green Schools Tool Kit at breakfast meetings
with fellow faculty members.
Most teams selected mascots to help “brand” their GSP activities. The animal
kingdom was amply represented in permutations that suggested energy savings and
environmental responsibility, along with a few takes on transformed light bulb
characters. As a number of these mascots traveled from classroom to classroom,
they brought with them 2-3 energy lessons for those teachers to use with their
students. Thus the educational resources were shared among the wider faculty.
Original songs, dances, games and skits were created and performed to
communicate the values of energy awareness and conservation beyond the science
curriculum. Hall displays in showcases and on bulletin boards also helped
“spread the word,” to be joined by daily or weekly announcements via the PA
system, including energy tips of the day. Another popular strategy saw older
students – sometimes from the same school and sometimes from different schools –
teaching energy lessons to younger students.
These student-based activities were buttressed by strong support from the
custodians who were integral members of each Green Schools Team. Custodians
helped evaluate suggestions such as turning off one of two banks of lights in
hallways since single sets of lights provided adequate illumination for walking
the halls. Custodians also checked settings on boilers and ventilation systems
and determined which electric accounts contained both interior lights and
playing fields.
All these activities achieved appreciable results in terms of energy saved
and greenhouse gases avoided. Seven of Brick’s 14 schools saved a combined
average of 15.1% on their electric usage, while 16 of Toms River’s 17 schools
saved a combined average of 6.9% on electricity. Gas usage had to be adjusted to
take into account the fact that last year was either 11.7% or 14.2% warmer than
the base years we had established for each school. Nine Brick schools produced a
combined average of 9.9% savings in natural gas, and 6 Toms River schools
combined for an average savings of 9.6%.
Green Schools
Teams in each participating school consisted of several teachers, an
administrator and a custodian. Each team created a plan for the school year,
deciding how best to reach out to fellow staff and to their students. Activities
included lessons taught within the traditional classroom as well as
extracurricular activities and school wide events. The human energy that made
the Green Schools Program so successful in both Brick Township Schools and in
Toms River Regional Schools
transformed lack of
awareness and indifference into cognitive excitement and concrete results. We
salute the creativity, enthusiasm and perseverance of each Green Schools Team
and say a super-sized thank you for your many noteworthy achievements. We look
forward to another year of learning and sharing and saving together.