Schools and Districts
For more information about what sustainable schools are go to Sustainability in Schools.
Who Should be Involved at the School District?
School board members are critical to the effort. They can support staff efforts, and introduce sustainability themselves to their fellow board members and school district colleagues.
School administrators, instructional, operations as well as business, can lead the way by demonstrating visible support.
School office workers, custodians and maintenance staff, food service workers, bus drivers, aides and everyone else in the school system play a very important role and must not be left out. They might even lead the way.
Teachers, parents and students are key players too. In addition to this section view additional resources for teachers, parents and students by selecting those menu buttons to the left.
Getting Prepared
Sustainability is a journey that can be started at any time. In fact, the journey has probably started somewhere in your school or district already. Just look for it. You can start with one particular topic area or if your school or district is ready then begin a comprehensive, integrated approach. There is not a right or wrong way. See the "Evolution of Sustainability" (PDF 23K). Every school or district will have to find their own approach. Eventually, when everybody in the district has a common understanding of sustainability, there will be a new ethic in place that guides all activities and decisions toward a sustainable future.
Get others involved in the effort.
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Start with your peers or colleagues.
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Connect with others through one of the activities listed below in “Establishing a Common Language”.
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Work through a parent-teacher organization.
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Organize a specific project that will interest others.
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Work with a specific student, classroom or student club.
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Identify work that is already being done and join in.
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Consider all the potential stakeholders listed at the top of the “Take Action” section.
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Help the school or district to form a sustainability team.
Establish a Common Language
"Sustainability" means many things to many people. It’s important to establish a common understanding. Get people thinking and learning about sustainability. Here are some starting points:
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Learn about sustainability yourself
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Subscribe to The Apple, SOSI’s monthly electronic newsletter, and learn.
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Attend presentations, workshops and conferences about sustainability. (See SOSI events list)
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Read books about sustainability. (See Resources section)
- To learn more about the concept of sustainability, go to Discover Sustainability.
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Help others to learn about sustainability, and connect with like-minded folks.
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Encourage others in your school and district to subscribe to The Apple.
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Organize a presentation about sustainability with an invited speaker.
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Form a book discussion group for your colleagues and select some key books about sustainability.
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Organize a Northwest Earth Institute discussion course at your school or district. (http://www.nwei.org/discussion_courses/get_started/default-page).
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Organize a school or district informational meeting to find others who are interested. Often there are others with a similar passion who would also like to connect with you. Advertise broadly. The meeting might include a presentation about what sustainability is and a visioning exercise to get everybody thinking. Invite all the school groups listed above in the “Who” section.
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Send a survey out to school staff to identify who is interested, or has already begun efforts.
The Next Steps
You may want to generally assess your organization’s impacts and identify the least sustainable areas before deciding where to start. No matter which area(s) you begin with, it’s important to establish the current baseline so that you can measure your improvement.
- To make progress in a particular topic area select "Getting Started".
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If you have a specific goal such as “reducing greenhouse gases” then it may involve multiple topic areas. In fact, there are many interconnections between the topic areas because they work together in a system.
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If you are in a management position you could begin with a group meeting at which you establish a vision and empower everyone who's interested to take a lead in developing ideas and making progress.
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If your school or district is ready to integrate the sustainability effort throughout the organization then select “Managing Sustainability”.