Students, staff and community asked to envision a sustainable future
Last month, 85 Austin ISD students, staff, parents and community members kicked off the first conversation of many for the district’s inaugural sustainability plan.
The plan will provide a roadmap for achieving a shared vision for what it means to be an environmentally, socially and economically sustainable school district in the following core areas:
- Air quality
- Energy
- Food
- Nature
- Procurement
- Transportation
- Waste
- Water
The sustainability plan will be developed during the next several months with guidance and oversight from the AISD Environmental Stewardship Advisory Committee. A draft plan is expected to be available for public comment in fall 2016.
In addition to the kickoff, AISD hosted a Green School Visioning Contest, asking the community to share photos, videos, stories and artwork that shows what a sustainable school looks, feels and acts like. Out of the nearly 350 submissions received, two top prizes were awarded:
- Best Individual Submission: Joseph “JD” Mitchell, a science specialist at Guerrero Thompson Elementary School, earned a $100 gift certificate courtesy of Odd Duck restaurant for the most inspiring submission about nurturing inquisitive minds and building a sustainable community through gardening at school.
- Best Campus Participation: Eastside Memorial High School students, staff and community members contributed 124 photos, tweets and emails, many inspired by the school’s Keep Eastside Beautiful program. Eastside Memorial won $500, donated by EcoRise Youth Innovations, for a campus environmental improvement project.
AISD also recently joined the national Green Schools Alliance District Collaborative to share best practices, combine purchasing power for sustainable products and advance market and policy solutions to support green schools.
To learn more about sustainability at AISD, please visit http://www.austinisd.org/sustainability.