The Greening of our Schools

by JAMIE MENAKER

There’s no denying the “green” movement. It’s everywhere we turn—recycling stations, reminders to turn the lights off, and ways to live greener and smarter. It’s good for the environment and our health, but it’s also good for our purse strings, since less energy and waste mean less money spent. Green living has also come to be associated with clean, healthy living: less toxic cleaning products and house building materials are kinder to the earth and better for you and your family.

As the green trend continues full-steam-ahead with no signs of slowing, our kids are now getting in on the action as well. San Joaquin schools have acknowledged the importance of environmentally-friendly behavior, and are adjusting their curriculum and school supplies to reflect this change. If green business holds the jobs of tomorrow, why not prepare our kids today? Following are some of the standout ways our children’s education is turning a lovely shade of environmentally-friendly green.

Green.edu

Green Team San Joaquin is one of the biggest advocates of the green lifestyle in our area, encouraging anyone from homeowners to major businesses to make the change and “go green.” Their Green.edu program tackles a much smaller—er, we mean younger—group of green-friendly folk. Armed with a laundry list of local businesses ready and waiting to help the Green.edu cause, the Green Team is dedicated to preparing San Joaquin’s school kids for environmentally-friendly jobs, or green collar jobs as they like to say . “We are willing to help the schools in any way we can,” says Frank Ferral, director of programs and public policy for the Green Team.

Ferral visits classrooms himself or recruits local green business owners to speak to students, organizes tours of the Team’s green companies, and encourages schools to use green products. “We don’t want teachers to have to call all over the earth to find ways to get speakers in the classroom, or teach the kids about green living,” says Ferral. “Teachers should be spending their time teaching, and when they call us, we can take care of all the details.”

New this school year, Green.edu is embarking on a partnership with the Stockton Unified School District to infuse a healthy dose of green into the curriculum, so stay tuned.  » www.greenteamsanjoaquin.com

San Joaquin County Public Works

There are quite a few divisions within the department of public works, including water, soil, air, and other environmentally-concerned parties. To date, the Solid Waste Division has made a serious point of getting recycling bins into as many schools as possible in San Joaquin, and facilitates meetings of the minds to link as many people invested in green education in San Joaquin as possible.

In the Manteca Unified School District, SJ Public Works helped to facilitate a year-long program for sixth grade students, inviting the kids to participate in green lessons throughout the school year, and then a day-long “Planet Party” filled with eco presentations and booths. “There are schools all over San Joaquin that have been adding green elements to their curriculum,” says Elisa Moberly, of the Solid Waste Division of SJ Public Works. “But I’ve been so impressed with the Manteca School District’s willingness to look at and try anything that they think might work. They are willing to just try it out, and see what happens.”

Fittingly, the Manteca School District will be the first to partner with Cal Recycle’s Education and Environment Initiative (EEI). Instead of trying to find time in the school year to add in green classes and lessons, which has proven difficult in some schools, the focus is to integrate the school’s already existing curriculum with environmental education. Each lesson would relate back to the environment, instead of a whole new added curriculum.

“The Lodi and Jefferson School District (Tracy) are both really big on recycling, PG&E just did a solar workshop and training for teachers, Manteca is working with a company to make their energy more efficient and put the extra funds towards teacher salaries. We just want to get everyone involved. What’s working in one school could certainly work in another,” says Moberly.  » www.sjgov.org/pubworks, www.calrecycle.ca.gov

Master Gardeners of San Joaquin

One of the most rewarding green trends that we’ve seen in the classroom (or outside the classroom, in this case) is school gardens. Nothing is more memorable to kids than getting away from their desks and getting their hands dirty. Think back to your most memorable experience from your school years, and we can bet it wasn’t at a school desk. School gardens allow kids to better understand where their food comes from, and the direct relationship between how they treat the earth and what it will give back in return. The Masters Gardeners of San Joaquin, a program of the University of California, have already started school gardens in the Manteca School District, and hope to plant more in all the San Joaquin schools.

“A school garden program can bring nature and agriculture to life on campus,” says Master Gardener coordinator Marcy Hachman. “School gardens promote cooperation through group activities, and encourage self-confidence and a sense of responsibility. Children become excited about math, history, science and nutrition through gardening experiences.” Another resulting addition: parents are able to spend time with their kids, volunteering and helping out in the garden, and in some cases even reap the benefits with fresh-from-the-ground fruits and veggies to take home to the dinner table.  sjmastergardeners.ucdavis.edu