Green Star Award Application for Bear Valley School
The Bear Valley “Green Paws Parents” is a group of enthusiastic and dedicated individuals. We are interested in achieving a Green Star Award for Bear Valley, so that we might draw awareness to the ideals of Green Star in our own school community and to those who visit our school. Equally important is our goal to conserve energy and resources, to recycle, and to educate and encourage Bear Valley’s students and families to do the same. We are very pleased to send in our application and look forward to your comments and suggestions.
Green Star Core Standards
1 – Designate a Green Star Coordinator and /or Team.
We have started the year with a solid base of seven parents who are interested in the program as well as the support of our principal, Jan Maki, our building custodian and the teachers. Parent meetings have been held on September 29 and October 14, 2004 to organize plans for the year. Additional meetings will be scheduled as activities dictate.
2 – Adopt, post and circulate to all school members the Green Star policy statement.
Bear Valley’s Green Star/Green Paw policy statement as adopted last year reads:
“Bear Valley is actively working to achieve and maintain Green Star Standards and to be a model for other schools and our community. Our school is committed to educating students, staff and families on topics that include conserving resources, reducing waste and pollution and taking account of the environmental effects of actions and purchases.”
Our statement is posted on the PTA bulletin board in the front hallway, is part of a larger Green Star bulletin board that is placed prominently at many school functions, and will also be included in the Bear Valley bi-monthly newsletter, the Bugle.
3 – Provide three incentives or training opportunities to encourage school participation in the Green Star Program.
1) We have put together a Green Star bulletin board that includes ALPAR fliers, hazardous waste disposal information, “reduce/reuse/recycle” fun facts, information and photos on current recycling at Bear Valley and a suggestion box for ideas and comments. It is prominently placed at school functions (i.e. – Back to School Picnic, Open House, book fair, etc) and portions of it are posted on the PTA bulletin board in the front hallway as space allows.
2) We will communicate this information (and more) to parents through the Bugle, Bear Valley’s bi-monthly newsletter.
3) We have some activities getting underway this fall and several more in the idea phase. In November, we will begin a program with the 5th and 6th graders to reduce lunch waste. The sixth graders are currently studying a unit in their classrooms titled, “There is No Away”. A speaker from ALPAR is coming November 1, and at that assembly we will introduce the idea and have the kids begin weighing their waste at lunch. After a week of charting the waste and generating ideas to reduce it (which will be entered in a prize drawing), the kids will give their ideas a go and see if they can reduce the amount of garbage hauled out to the dumpster each day. We hope to keep parents informed of the kids’ ideas and efforts and expand the program to the rest of the school later this year.
Other ideas include prize drawings for students who participate in planned Green Star activities such as:
- conducting a waste/energy assessment of the school,
- conducting an assessment of their home,
- submitting posters/drawings with specific themes such as “recycling in action”, “world with/without pollution”, “Earth Day”, etc,
- submitting ideas for “reduce/reuse” of resources in their classrooms and/or at home.
4 – Notify parents, other schools and district employees of your school’s efforts to meet the Green Star Standards.
A Green Star Team representative will regularly attend PTA meetings to update the officers and attending parents of our progress and activities. The Green Star bulletin board contains basic information, including the school’s current recycling efforts, which we plan to include and augment in the Bugle newsletter.
5 – Assist at least one other school, department, business or community organization in becoming a Green Star participant.
Our focus for this year is to educate and encourage families to reduce/reuse/recycle at home and beyond. Hence the communication with parents via the Bugle, the bulletin board, and activities at school/family events. We have also supplied information and encouragement to parents interested in the Green Star Program who have children at Aquarian and Bauman elementary schools.
6 – Conduct an annual waste assessment.
Jeanne Carlson helped us conduct an assessment in May of 2004. See attachment for a copy of this assessment.
7 – Practice conservation of office paper in at least three different ways.
Bear Valley uses scrap paper in a variety of ways. The office has stacks of one-sided paper for parent and staff use, the art room and parent workroom have boxes for construction paper scraps, and teachers use scrap paper for notes. Most teachers and parent helpers use double sided copying when possible, and the office staff and parent helpers in the know are always available to help set up the copier to make double sided prints. We also have a box in the copier room that contains good, one-sided paper for second-side use.
8 – Incorporate at least three energy-conserving changes in your organization.
Not chosen.
9 – Monitor, record and post utility usage and waste disposal.
Not chosen.
10 – Purchase products and services that are environmentally preferable.
Faucets in restrooms automatically turn off. Windows are double paned to reduce heat loss. Lights in some supply closets are operated by motion sensors. The teacher lounge contains reusable dishes and cutlery.
11 – Purchase at least three different types or sources of recycled-content products and materials.
Bear Valley has little or no choice in purchasing decisions, but sometimes the district does supply products that have recycled content.
12 – Enhance your maintenance program to improve efficiency and reduce waste in at least three ways.
Not chosen
13 – Separate waste materials for recycling.
Mixed paper recycling bins are currently placed in the classrooms of grades 1-6, the office, the art room, and the copier/workroom. Students empty their classroom bins into larger, centrally located cans. Aluminum cans are collected in the teacher lounge and the lunchroom and plastic bottles are collected in the lunchroom. The PTA also collects and recycles inkjet cartridges as a fundraiser for the school.
14 – Practice proper handling and disposal of hazardous materials.
There is a flammables cabinet for dangerous art supplies. There are no science labs in the school. Any science materials are borrowed in kits from the school district for the duration of the lesson. The school district does not allow any toxic cleaning supplies to be used in the school.
15 – Reduce your use of toxic materials in at least three ways.
Not chosen
16 – Establish a litter-free zone in the immediate vicinity of your facility.
Bear Valley sponsors a clean-up every spring in conjunction with the city-wide clean-up. Many families take extra bags and pick up litter in their neighborhoods as well.
17 – Provide waste reduction, recycling and energy efficiency information to employees.
This information is provided to the entire school community through the Green Star bulletin board and the bi-monthly newsletter, the Bugle.
18 – Develop your own waste reduction method different from those listed above.
Not chosen
Future Goals:
- We will continue to maintain our recycling program presented in this application and will expand it into all classrooms and work areas.
- We will strive to reduce our lunchroom waste through community education and student involvement.
- We will seek to further educate and involve the students and families at Bear Valley in energy and resource conservation and recycling activities.