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The Third Annual Green California Schools Summit Leadership Awards

The third annual Green Schools Leadership Awards, highlighting innovation and dedication to sustainability in six categories, were presented during the Leadership Awards Reception on December 10, with State Architect David Thorman on hand to present the awards.

Secretary Thomas opened the ceremony, noting that, “sustainability and green schools are more important now than ever. For those of you who are going to receive awards, know that the Governor strongly believes that the two pillars for California are the environment and education. Keep up the good work. This is a crucial year coming up, where we can really move the ball forward.”

The Industry Award was given to architect Wendy Rogers and the firm of LPA Inc. for their work in not only designing green schools but for a dedication to integrating design and curriculum within the educational spaces. LPA has more LEED certified buildings than any firm in the state.

A Spanish teacher at La Mirada High School with a personal passion for sustainability won the Teacher Award. Norma Williamson raised over $70,000 in grants to fund two eco-clubs. She also initiated and coordinated the first school-wide Annual Energy & Earth Day Festival and many other projects.

The Irvine Unified School District won the District Award for its resolution to build all future schools to high sustainability standards and a solar program that has grown from one experimental solar panel to the largest solar project of any school district in the U.S.

At the other end of the spectrum, a tiny school district in Northern California, Dublin Unified, with only 6,000 students, won the Green Building award for its “live rebuild” of an existing school, where students are attending school during the renovation and are actively involved in all its green aspects.

Creating a dedicated position of Director of Sustainability led the San Francisco Unified School District to implement a plethora of sustainability projects among its 150-plus schools. The District won the Green Culture award for, among other things, focusing on modernizing its existing schools to achieve energy efficiency, providing healthy foods in its cafeterias and completing an energy efficient “virtual server farm” to network its computers.

The Energy Award went to the New Haven Unified School District for its solar systems and dedication to energy efficiency. The district has also embarked on a project to retrofit its entire fleet of school buses to reduce emissions up to 85 percent.

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