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Greening Schools One by One
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WMRC's Greening Schools project, a partnership with Illinois EPA, has provided resources to school administrators and teachers since 2004. During this period more than 568 teachers have attended Safe Chemicals in Education Workshops. Participation in these workshops has made it possible for more than 500 schools to take advantage of free removal of educational chemical wastes at an average savings of $1,800 to $5,600 per school. Greening Schools has been a partner in a statewide effort to improve the environmental learning quality of schools. In addition to Illinois EPA, other partners involved in the Safe Chemicals in Education Workshops have included Illinois Department of Public Health and Illinois State Board of Education.
Greening Schools identifies resources and conducts presentations for solid waste agencies and organizations including Tri-County Green Matters (Peoria), Solid Waste Agency of Lake County (SWALCO), Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County (SWANCC), Illinois Counties Solid Waste Management Association, and Illinois Recycles. Greening Schools has presented at Illinois Science Teachers Association conferences and numerous smaller teacher-education programs sponsored by local Regional Offices of Education. Through these presentations and meetings, an additional 1,265 educators have been introduced to Green School strategies.
Students have learned about recycling, chemical management, packaging, and water pollution. The Urbana Middle School's Waterworks Project 7th grade students selected to study the Boneyard Creek in Champaign. They identified pollution issues as well as erosion and community use of a park where the creek flowed through, Scotts Park. Carol Knepp, Greening Schools project manager, participated with education content and hands-on preparation for three months. The student's project was their contribution to an Earth Day event that created public awareness of the pollution issues.
Teachers and informal education agencies rely heavily upon the Greening Schools Web site. Since 2004 more than 1,410 resources have been added to the Web site, each specifically selected for its value to teachers and school administrators. Topics on the Web site have expanded to include air quality, art safety, career education, chemistry, composting, energy, integrated pest management, school projects, theater and performing arts safety, transportation, and 75 other categories.
When requests are received for school presentations Greening Schools arranges for a representative to attend the school's event. More than 1,400 elementary students have been introduced to pollution prevention concepts at their schools, while an additional 1,600 students have experienced a sample of a Greening Schools program at larger community events. Students have learned about recycling, chemical management, packaging, and water pollution.
In 2005-2006 Greening Schools introduced a new concept in Pollution Prevention education. A growing awareness of pollution prevention and health safety in the Arts has been visible in New York and California, but Greening Schools and IEPA brought this topic to Illinois, and in April presented the Art Classroom Health and Safety for Art Educators workshop. Art educators were introduced to the hazards and health effects in art followed by recommendations for safer lessons. A walk through of an art studio provided hands-on opportunities. Participants said they found the workshop eye opening and that they had not known about the chemicals used in the classrooms. These workshops have benefited from new partnerships with the Great Lakes Centers for Occupational and Environmental Safety and Health, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Plans are for additional workshops on safety for educators, arts and safety, an Administrator session on Integrated Pest Management, and energy reduction.
"It's exciting to see teachers making connections between what they have been doing and the associated consequences," said Knepp. "One art educator moaned after sitting through a workshop that she wished this information had been available years ago when she was first determining her art form. Knowledge is powerful and this new knowledge for art and theater educators is stimulating a lot of thought and reaction."
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