Green Urbanism
Green Schools
A green school, also known as a high performance school, is a community facility that is designed, built, renovated, operated, or reused in an ecological and resource-efficient manner. Green schools protect occupant health, provide a productive learning environment, connect students to the natural world, increase average daily attendance, reduce operating costs, improve teacher satisfaction and retention, and reduce overall impact to the environment.
Green schools lessen the impact of building construction on the environment and set an example for future generations that environmental quality is essential to our long-term well being. They also have benefits in several key performance areas:
- Protect Student and Teacher Health - Schools designed with attention to proper ventilation, material selection, acoustical quality and other indoor environmental factors, can expect improved student and teacher health and higher attendance;
- Better Student Performance - Attention to site planning and adequate daylighting has been shown to heighten student performance by as much as 25%;
- Lower Operating Costs - Operating costs for energy and water can be reduced by 20% to 40%, allowing more money to be used for teacher salaries, textbooks and computers;
- Provide a Unique Educational Opportunity - When advanced technology and design in new schools are made visible, buildings can become teaching tools and important features of science, math, and environmental curriculum.
Get involved! To download a letter to send to school officials urging them to make your school a green school, click here.
Sign our letter to President Obama urging him to make green schools a priority.
Learn how you can help green your local school, as well as a list of green school benefits.
For more information on the Green Schools Initiative, email ggusa@globalgreen.org
In 2004, Global Green launched a new effort focused on K-12 schools in Southern California. This effort integrates the green building principles developed by Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) with broader neighborhood and regional issues including energy generation, stormwater management, joint-use of school facilities, and the growing movement to use school buildings as teaching tools. Although CHPS is relatively new, it is crucial that a number of districts including Los Angeles, Burbank, Santa Ana, and San Diego have adopted policies requiring CHPS for all future projects. Global Green is working to ensure that these policies are fully implemented and that other districts are aware of the benefits that CHPS and green schools provide. Thus the goals of the Initiative are to:
- Ensure complete implementation of the existing LAUSD green schools policy
- Encourage other Southern California school districts to adopt green school policies
- Develop state legislation to ensure that all new and modernized schools are built to CHPS minimum design standards
- Create additional showcase schools that incorporate cutting-edge practices to educate, inform, and inspire LAUSD and other school districts
- Create a coalition to provide a Southern California base of support for statewide green schools policies and initiatives
In 2004, Global Green launched a new effort, The Green Schools Initiative, focused on greening K-12 schools. When Global Green expanded its effort in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, schools became a critical component of its rebuilding efforts there. The goal of this initiative is to create healthier classrooms and more energy efficient schools that in turn improve student performance and save money for school districts, while helping to protect the environment and reducing carbon emissions. The Green Schools Initiative has been made possible by a grant from the Bush Clinton Katrina Fund.
PHOTO GALLERY
For additional links, go to these pages:
Green Building Resources
Green Urbanism Resources (Cities/Communities/Neighborhoods)
Green Affordable Housing Resources
Projects
New Orleans Recovery School District
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Global Green expanded it's green schools efforts to New Orleans thanks to funding from the Bush Clinton Katrina Fund. Two types of school projects were funded - the green rehab of four Green Seed Schools and the complete remodel and construction of two Green Model Schools.
Los Angeles Unified District (LAUSD)
In 2006, thanks to the Annenberg Foundation, Global Green USA began an initiative to help LAUSD green its $14 billion in new school construction, the largest new schools construction project in the country. By the end of 2009, we had completed a multi-phase review of 34 new green schools, improving the school facilities for more than 40,000 students and teachers.
View All Projects
Publications
Case Study: Andrew H. Wilson Elementary School
Andrew H. Wilson Elementary School is a model high performance school for the New Orleans Recovery School District’s $1.8 billion school construction program. Andrew H. Wilson is a kindergarden through 8th grande school for approx. 540 students. The campus includes: 26 classrooms, a cafeteria, a gymnasium, an art studio, a music room, a computer lab, a library, and administration facilities. The school features an environmentally friendly site design, and was designed to meet LEED for Schools 2007 standards and is anticipated to achieve LEED for Schools Gold certification by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC).
DOWNLOAD
Case Study: Green Dot Charter Schools
Green Dot Charter Schools, in partnership with Pacific Charter School Development (PCSD), opened the doors of Animo Ralph Bunche and Animo Justice High School’s permanent facility in September 2008. Providing over one thousand new seats for students in South Los Angeles, the schools transformed two former industrial spaces into a 77,173 square foot Leed Certified educational campus. Now operating as Animo Ralph Bunche and Animo Jefferson Middle School, the schools are examples of a green approach to planning, design and operations in an urban setting ripe for adaptive reuse.
DOWNLOAD
