Elementary school wins, ‘Green Ribbon Award’
Award recognizes environmental efforts
Monterey Road Elementary School. Photo from Google Maps.
–The Atascadero Unified School District has announced that Monterey Road Elementary School has been awarded silver recognition for the California Green Schools Award.
Green Ribbon Schools demonstrate exemplary achievement in three “pillars:”
Pillar I: reduce environmental impact and costs;
Pillar II: improve the health and wellness of schools, students, and staff; and
Pillar III: provide effective environmental education that teaches many disciplines and is especially good at effectively incorporating science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, civic skills, and green career pathways.
Monterey Road was one of only four elementary schools in California to be recognized for this award and the only school in San Luis Obispo County.
Monterey Road began this journey last June when they partnered with Cuesta Community College Sustainability Resource Center. Teachers attended professional development around the Next Generation Science Standards and designed sustainability units to be implemented throughout the 2015-2016 school year.
In addition, Monterey Road partnered with One Cool Earth, a nonprofit organization, in an effort to increase recycling. In January, One Cool Earth conducted a Waste Audit with the students and staff at Monterey Road where a complete days’ worth of waste was sorted and weighed. During the audit, students and staff learned how they could sort and recycle waste on campus daily. Upon completion of the audit, the students and staff made a commitment to increase recycling efforts and waste reduction. Soon a “Green Team” made up of student volunteers, was formed. The team runs the compost stations at lunch where waste is either recycled or treated and transformed into compost to use in the school garden. In addition, the garden has been transformed to an outdoor classroom where students learn responsibility through planting and harvesting annual crops.
Finally, the school’s Garden Committee, which consists of students, staff, and parents, is participating in a turf replacement project, where turf is being removed and replaced with native drought resistant plants.
