Dear Shark, 

What does it mean to be a Green School? How does a school become a Green School?

Answer provided by Steve Fletcher, Magothy River Middle School 

Great questions!  There’s a lot to it, but I will attempt to give you a brief response that gives some initial thought on how a school would pursue a Green School Certification. The first step in becoming a Green School is gaining an understanding of the requirements of your district, state or certifying organization, or whomever is the grantor of the Green School designation.

In Maryland, the certifying organization is the Maryland Association of Environmental and Outdoor Education  (MAEOE).  From my perspective they are a well run and responsive organization. This is an important aspect to keep in mind. They exist to serve the greater good, but also to help schools and organizations successfully navigate the Green School certification process. A good rule to follow is ask as many questions as needed throughout the process and don’t feel bad, because there is a lot to get a handle on. 

The second step in pursuing a Green School certification is making an effort to get to know who the key environmental education players are in your district.  They will be the ones that will be able to help you navigate the nuances of the application process, and might even be able to partner with you and your school as you plan and implement activities that help meet the requirements.

Finally, I would say that it is imperative that you have a school administration and faculty that are unified in making Green School certification an integral part of the school academic plan. Having this meshing of environmental education and academics can also help schools meet their service learning goals as well.

Extra bonus!! Working towards a Green School certification can be mostly a lesson in futility if all members of the faculty, staff and building services are not on the same page, because all of the efforts must be integrated into your Green School application WITH evidence.

Working through the processes of becoming a Green School can be highly rewarding and is a true achievement . . . you just have to dot your I’s and cross your T’s, to be sure.  For more information, click HERE

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