WALK & WHEEL WEDNESDAY: Walking and biking to school is just one of the many ways that Riverside Elementary (shown here) and other Princeton Public Schools promote sustainability and earn points towards Sustainable Jersey for Schools certification, which every school in the district has achieved. (Photo courtesy of Princeton Public Schools)
By Donald Gilpin
All the Princeton Public Schools (PPS) have achieved Sustainable Jersey for Schools certification, “recognized as leaders in sustainability” and “providing exceptional learning opportunities for their students, while modeling best practices for districts statewide,” according to a PPS press release.
All four elementary schools, Princeton Middle School (PMS), and Princeton High School (PHS) have implemented a wide range of green initiatives and continue to pursue innovative environmentally conscious programs for energy use, waste reduction, climate education, and digital learning.
“It is a significant accomplishment to acquire Sustainable Jersey Certification for every school in our district,” said PPS Superintendent Mike LaSusa. “Only a small fraction of New Jersey school districts achieve such status each year, and I am grateful for the work of our school staff and our Sustainable Princeton partners, particularly Jenny Ludmer, for all their hard work and effort to make our schools more sustainable.”
PPS reported that 50 sustainable initiatives were recently submitted for approval and another 60 have already been approved.
Among their numerous achievements, all the schools, under the leadership of green teams, have enacted sustainability and Safe Routes to Schools policies, organized professional development for sustainability education, performed carbon footprints, prioritized energy-efficient equipment, tracked and managed energy use, prioritized green energy supplies, planned Earth Day activities, organized pedestrian and bike safety activities, promoted locally grown foods in the cafeteria, worked with Share My Meals to distribute uneaten food to those who need it, and sorted cafeteria food scraps for recycling through organic diversion.
In addition, Community Park Elementary School educates students with its raised garden beds, leads the Generation Green outreach to preschool families, plans tasting events through Garden State on Your Plate, provides a Share Table in the cafeteria so nurses can distribute food to students in need, and plans a book collection for Book Smiles, and a clothing collection for Princeton Mobile Food Pantry.
Johnson Park School organizes its Power Down for Pizza competition, engages students in its garden beds and repurposed milk jug seed starters initiatives, plans Garden State on Your Plate tasting events, educates for sustainability through the arts, performs a waste audit, provides a Share Table in the cafeteria, organizes many differently themed clothing swaps, and hosts a plastic bag and film collection for TREX, and a marker/crayon collection for Staples.
Littlebrook School also stages a Power Down for Pizza competition, promotes raised garden beds and repurposed milk jug seed starters, organizes the Generation Green outreach to preschool families, and plans Garden State on your Plate tasting events. In addition Littlebrook has cleared invasive plants from their trail system and remediated perimeter beds with active plants, organized a Halloween costume swap, and planned a book collection for Book Smiles, a toothbrush/toothpaste collection for Terracycle, and a clothing collection through ACR Trading.
Riverside School has planted trees with support from the Princeton Education Foundation, hosted two sustainability clubs which evaluated pedestrian and bike safety and built several grow boxes using leftover plexiglass, organized science day, worked with the Watershed Institute to develop a Green Infrastructure Plan, organized a book swap, and also organized a Power Down for Pizza competition and a Generation Green outreach to preschool families, as well as planning tasting events through Garden State on Your Plate.
PMS, in addition to its Power Down for Pizza competition and its Share Table in the cafeteria, has educated students with its raised garden beds and hydroponics, hosted a Souper Saturday event to promote students’ cooking skills and healthy eating habits, organized the Bake for Good event to teach students to make bread, planned a biodiversity activity turning gourds into colorful birdhouses, hosted a litter cleanup challenge, and organized last year’s STEAM Saturdays events.
PHS has revitalized its courtyards with the support of the Princeton Education Foundation; educated students with raised garden beds, greenhouses, and hydroponics; hosted a prom dress collection and swap; reused plexiglass to construct science models; initiated the Sourdough Science project, an iSTEAM collaborative unit; teamed with the Watershed Institute and a former student to develop a Green Infrastructure Plan; helped all students to gain volunteer experience; implemented a Paul Robeson project; and performed a waste audit.
Ludmer, who as Sustainable Princeton’s program manager works closely with the schools, described the rigorous process required to achieve certification.
All six schools are currently certified at Sustainable Jersey’s bronze level and working to move up to the silver level. Schools earn points for completing a balanced assortment of actions, with 150 points required for the bronze level and 350 for the silver level.
“Every school is moving in that direction,” said Ludmer. “Currently PHS is closest to that goal with 295 points, while the other schools are certified at 215-250 points.”
Launched in 2014, Sustainable Jersey for Schools’ voluntary certification program includes 1,223 schools and 67 percent of the public school districts in the state.
“With more than two-thirds of the districts engaged and hundreds of schools certified, we’re seeing real momentum,” said Sustainable Jersey Executive Director Randall Solomon. “What makes this achievement powerful is that it comes from the ground up — teachers, students, administrators, and parents working together to build healthier, more resilient schools.”