There has been unprecedented challenges for Schools and Community Colleges, and the situations that they must navigate are constantly changing.
The 2022 Green California Schools and Community Colleges Summit will provide a forum for leaders to share how they are addressing these changes and challenges, including ways that the current crisis might be providing unanticipated opportunities for progress.
The Education Program could include such topics as:
Healthy Air
Sustainable Infrastructure
Facility Design
Electric Vehicles
EV Infrastructure
CalGreen for Schools
Environmental Literacy
Outdoor Learning
Organic Waste Recycling
Community College Facility Projects
Project Management
Funding
and More.
Many of the education sessions will qualify for Continuing Education Credits, Units, or Renewal Points.
Green Technology is an AIA (American Institute of Architects) Continuing Education Provider, #G515 and an ICC (International Code Council) Preferred Provider, #1170.
Education Sessions at a Glance:
10:30 am – 11:30am:
| ROOM | – SESSION TITLE |
| 101 | Sustainability is within Reach: Shifting school transportation toward a green future |
| 105 | Advancing State Policy to Support Climate-Ready School Infrastructure |
| 106 | LACOE Green Schools Symposium: That’s Going To Leave a Mark- Leveraging The Great Outdoors to Accelerate ProSocial Learning Experiences |
| 208 | How Chief Business Officers, Students Leaders, and Community Based Partners Are Key to Advancing Sustainable and Climate Ready Schools Practices |
| 204 | Leading Green Achiever District |
| 207 | Greening LA |
| 212 | The Fourth Pillar: A Whole Systems Approach to Implementing Lasting Environmental Stewardship in Schools and School Districts |
| 214 | Energy and Building Project Funding: What’s available now? |
| 211 | USGBC-LA student workshop (10:30am – 12:00pm) |
1:00 pm – 2:00pm:
| ROOM | – SESSION TITLE |
| 101 | Accelerated Infrastructure Deployment & Student |
| 105 | Not One More Thing! |
| 204 | “Many Hands Make Light Work”- The Collaborative Effort of School/District Personnel in Building a CA Green Ribbon School. |
| 207 | Greening Our Schools |
| 208 | Reconstructing Schools for Environmental Learning Equity |
| 212 | Saving Money While Integrating Climate Action and Work-based Learning |
| 214 | PLANNING FOR CHANGE: DESIGNING LONG LASTING EDUCATIONAL FACILITES |
| 106 | LACOE Green Schools Symposium: Green Schoolyards and the California Schoolyard Forest System |
| 211 | Heroes for Zero – Student Session |
2:30 pm – 3:30pm:
| ROOM | – SESSION TITLE |
| 101 | A Case Study for a Cost-Effective Electric Bus Fleet Transition and Resiliency Plan |
| 105 | Leadership for Green Schools |
| 106 | Sustainability Makes Lots of “CENTS”! |
| 208 | Protecting student health with local air quality data — why the nation’s second-largest school district invested in a network of 200 air quality sensors |
| 204 | SB 1383 Organic Recycling and Edible Food Recovery Discussion for School Districts and Colleges |
| 214 | Leading Sustainability Initiatives for School and District Improvement |
| 211 | CALGreen for Schools (2:15pm – 3:45pm) |
Virtual Only – Pre-recorded:
- Designing spaces and opportunities to build Resiliency and Ownership for K-12 youth: Supporting and Empowering Health, Wellness and Community-Building
The LACOE Green Schools Symposium will be from 10:30am to 2:00pm and is included in Summit registration. For those interested in attending the LACOE Green Schools Symposium with lunch, Summit Keynote, Leadership Awards Reception and Celebration and Exhibit area, a special rate is available. Virtual attendance to “That’s Going To Leave a Mark” is complementary and includes the live-streamed Summit Keynote and Leadership Awards.
For more information about this event within the Summit CLICK HERE
EDUCATION SESSION DESCRIPTIONS:
Planning for Change: Designing Long Lasting Educational Facilities
Educational buildings are a huge and influential part of our built environment. At any given point, many of these facilities are inadequate to the task at hand – providing appropriate, accommodating, healthy settings for learning. Caught between funding cycles, School Districts frequently find their building stock an impediment to the vital activities essential to effective and progressive education. Drawing on the methodology of Open Building, this panel and workshop is an exploration of decision-making strategies designed to support a longer and more dynamic vision about the creation of educational facilities and making sure they have a long-lasting life to facilitate ongoing change and minimize the carbon footprint. The workshop will use case studies, including Santa Monica High School’s new 260,000 s.f. Discovery Building to illustrate loose fit architecture that addresses these issues.
Speakers:
John Dale, Principal and Studio Leader, HED
Carey Upton, Chief Operations Officer, Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District
James Mary O’Connor, Principal, Moore Ruble Yudell Architects & Planners
CALGreen for Schools
Division of the State Architect staff will provide a brief overview of the CBSC Code cycle, an update of upcoming amendments to the 2022 CALGreen Code, proposed amendments for the 2022 Intervening Code Cycle and educational and outreach efforts, including workshops and collaboratives currently underway. Specific topics in CALGreen will focus on Electric Vehicle Charging, Shading, Carbon Reduction and CO2 Monitoring.
Speakers:
Eric Driever, Principal Architect, Division of the State Architect
Paul Johnson, Senior Electrical Engineer, Division of the State Architect
Tav Commins, Senior Mechanical Engineer, Division of the State Architect
Energy and Building Project Funding: What’s available now?
Learn how to obtain funding through the State of California’s Office of Public School Construction (OPSC). OPSC, through the State Allocation Board, provides grant funding to K-12 school districts for the construction and modernization of school facilities through the School Facility Program and the California Preschool, Transitional Kindergarten, and Full-Day Kindergarten Program. OPSC staff will walk you through the process to determine eligibility and apply for funding.
Speaker:
Lisa Silverman, Executive Officer, Office of Public School Construction
Sustainability is within Reach: Shifting school transportation toward a green future
School transportation is the largest mass transit system in the U.S, yet schools are stuck in a century old mobility solution. Schools spend millions annually on transportation. On average, students ride 60 minutes on a school bus per trip breathing harmful carbon emissions. Student transportation is ripe for disruption. Learn from district and industry leaders who are modernizing student transportation in order to improve students’ and families’ experience, create healthier communities, and achieve a green future. A world-class EV ecosystem is at your fingertips – join us to learn more.
Speakers:
Liz Sanchez, Executive Vice President, Zum Services, Inc.
Pallav Prakash, EV Program Manager, Zum Services, Inc.
Gilbert Blue Feather Rosas, Director II, Sustainability and Adaptation, Modesto City Schools
SB 1383 Organic Recycling and Edible Food Recovery Discussion for School Districts and Colleges
Join CalRecycle and American Refuse in discussing organics recycling in school districts and colleges. Learn about the requirements of the regulation and hear about best management practices to be in compliance. Topics will include organic waste recycling, edible food recovery requirements, hauler relationships and tips to building a successful organic diversion program.
Speakers:
Michelle Cevallos, Sr. Environmental Scientist, CalRecycle
Lynnda Martin, American Refuse
California Department of Education Representative
Greening LA
GREENING LA: I 100 @ 28th Street – L.A.’S future in collaborative multi-sector urban interventions transforms in 7 weeks deteriorated left over spaces near the freeway into green space, food access and learning laboratory. Greening LA organizes an unprecedented ecological urbanism collaboration among Los Angeles colleges and universities, government agencies, the U.S. Green Building Council LA, architecture engineering and construction firms, and nonprofit organizations in a project to “greenify” and beautify Los Angeles.
Speaker:
Marcela Oliva, Board Member and Architecture Professor, USGBC LA and LACCD/LATTC
The Fourth Pillar: A Whole Systems Approach to Implementing Lasting Environmental Stewardship in Schools and School Districts
For the past 10 years, the Encinitas Union School District has been one of the model districts “blazing a trail” toward lasting school sustainability within the Green School Movement. From administrators to students, staff and volunteers, every department with the EUSD system promotes best practices that not only reduce the district’s carbon footprint but also helps further pollution prevention outreach and climate action strategies of the surrounding cities and public utilities. By designating environmental stewardship as one of the District’s Four Pillars of Distinction, all decisions -from Facilities to Finance- are made through the lens of sustainability. In this session, key administrators will share how they approach leading their departments to gain maximum buy-in from their team. EUSD’s green consultant will join the discussion and share how the district has overcome many common challenges through the years and in-turn helped other school districts on their path toward sustainability.
Speakers:
Camille Sowinski, Green Consultant, BCK Programs, LLC
Amy Illingworth, Assistant Superintendent, Education Services, Encinitas Union School District
Eric Smith, Facilities Director, Encinitas Union School District
Sustainability Makes Lots of “CENTS”!
The conversation about sustainability is changing. Once thought to be a lofty goal to aspire to, sustainability has now taken on a new identity as a strategic approach to drastically lowering operating costs. Join PBK’s Jeff Johnson and LEAF Engineers’ Rex Wang as they discuss how incorporating sustainable strategies into your building’s design and engineering can have a positive impact on the environment – and ultimately your bottom line! This interactive workshop will share unique sustainable strategies and funding sources to incorporate – with data-driven case studies showing the direct financial impact of this approach. The goal of being environmentally responsible AND fiscally responsible really makes LOTS of “CENTS!”
Speakers:
Jeff Johnson, Associate Principal/Senior Designer, PBK
Rex Wang, Director, LEAF Engineers
Advancing State Policy to Support Climate-Ready School Infrastructure
Federal and state policies have significant impacts on the contexts in which county and district leaders are pursuing equitable access to healthy, sustainable, decarbonized, resilient school infrastructure. This session will provide participants with greater visibility into current federal and state policy contexts and with opportunities to both access support and participate in advocacy to shape policy. The session will also highlight the findings and recommendations of a new report from a broad group collaborators including Stanford, UC Berkeley, and others, “Advancing Climate Resilience and Sustainability in California’s Schools: A policy roadmap to improve health and reduce environmental impacts in TK-12 public education.” to be released this fall 2022.
Speakers:
Jonathan Klein, Co-Founder, UndauntedK12
Additional speakers coming soon
Leading Green Achiever District
Merced Union High School received the 2022 California Department Of Education’s Green Achiever Award. This session will dive into how the districts administration worked in concert with students’ passion for becoming a Green District using sustainability practices to save, provide cleaner energy, furnish lighting and indoor air quality for students’ success, and promote 15 CTE Pathways that raised expectations of students’ Career and College Readiness. Attendees will learn about projects and programs that students participate in that help curb climate change. The district has provided the students with a cleaner, healthier mental and physical education and opportunities to succeed in their civic and professional futures.
Speakers:
Dr. Scott Weimer, Assistant Superintendent Business and Student Services, MUHSD
Jeff Rivero, Teacher, Merced Union High School District
Additional speakers coming soon
Not One More Thing!
How can school districts integrate sustainability efforts so that they are not one more thing put on staff? In this session, learn how one district has been systematically building green efforts from facilities to academics. Presenters will share real-life examples that demonstrate sustainability as value-added. Participants will share personal successes and walk away with a collective bank of ideas that everyone can implement tomorrow.
Speakers:
Dr. Sharmilla Kraft, Assistant Superintendent Educational Services, National School District
Arik Avanesyans, Assistant Superintendent Business Services, National School District
Additional speakers coming soon
Reconstructing Schools for Environmental Learning Equity
Examine how collaboration across district departments revolutionizes K-12 districts. With new legislative requirements, districts are looking for ways to: divert organic waste, increase recycling and reduce electricity and water usage. None of these requirements can be achieved without changing the behavior of students, administrators and teachers. Education services and business services working together to build student learning experiences and change behavior is the only option.
Speakers:
Juanita Chan-Roden, Agent: Science and Career Programs, Education Services, Rialto USD
Brian Montez, Supervisor, Grounds and Maintenance, Business Services, Rialto USD
Thomas Vasta, Instructional Strategist, Morris Elementary School
Fausat Rahman-Davies, Agent: Nutrition Services, Business Services, Rialto USD
Protecting Student Health with Local Air Quality Data
Why the nation’s second-largest school district invested in a network of 200 air quality sensors?
Exposure to air pollution poses health risks for children, inhibits cognitive development, and negatively impacts academic achievement. Access to real-time air quality data is critical for school district staff to make informed decisions that protect the health and safety of our students and school communities. LAUSD has procured and installed more than 200 air quality sensors — the district was divided into grid squares of approximately 1.6 miles, with a sensor placed in each grid. This first-of-its-kind network provides real-time monitoring across more than 200 school campuses, yielding reliable, local air quality data for over 1,000 schools and offices and 700,000 students. The sensors are used during emergency events such as wildfires and poor air quality episodes to determine what actions need to be taken at the school level. Potential actions include keeping students indoors, restricting outdoor activities, attending to students with asthma — and even closures in extreme conditions.
Speakers:
Ryan Higgins, Director of Marketing, Clarity Movement Co.
Carlos Torres, Director – Office of Environmental Health & Safety, Los Angeles Unified School District
How Chief Business Officers, Students Leaders, and Community Based Partners Are Key to Advancing Sustainable and Climate Ready Schools Practices
This panel session highlights how stakeholders at all different levels of the system can play a key role in advancing sustainable and climate ready schools practices. Speakers and stories featured include: i) Chief Business Officers taking an equity-driven approach to providing all students access to Living Schoolyards; ii) Student leaders designing and implementing collective impact district-wide sustainability committees that, and iii) Community Based Partners working in partnership with district and site leaders to support water resilient efforts. Each story will showcase the tools and resources that helped move these efforts forward with equity and inclusion embedded as core principles. In addition to hearing stories from real changemakers, participants will get time to reflect on how tools, resources, and ideas from this session can be applied to their school communities.
Speakers:
Andra Yeghoian, Chief Innovation Officer, Ten Strands
Ralph Crame, Chief Business Officer, Millbrae School District
Reid Bogert, Senior Stormwater Program Specialist, County Flows to Bay Initiative
Katinka Lennemann, Student, Sequoia Union High School District
Leadership for Green Schools
This session will highlight the skills, practices, and policies used by school leaders who create and run sustainable school systems.
Learning Objectives:
1. Session participants will learn practical steps to integrate sustainability into their school / district.
2. Participants will be taught how to use a systems approach to sustainable school planning.
3. Participants will see the skills, practices, and policies used by successful green leaders.
4. Participants will see models of successful school leaders running sustainable schools / districts.
Speaker:
Tim Baird, Director of Educational Partnerships, Green Schools National Network
Leading Sustainability Initiatives for School and District Improvement
These last three years, Cabrillo Unified School District has worked with students, staff, community partners, and county office of education leaders to help us strengthen environmental education and achieve district sustainability goals. These goals include building school gardens on every campus; improving our UC “a-g” approved Agricultural Science CTE program at Half Moon Bay High School; integrating green career awareness and exploration modules into our middle school program; planning solar generation for every campus; planning water conservation efforts for every campus; and implementing a sustainability dashboard making district energy use, water use, and waste diversion visible to those we serve. This presentation brings together CUSD’s superintendent and two leaders from San Mateo County Office of Education’s Office of Sustainability to describe how students, staff, and community partners have come together to implement the work done and plan the work still underway to achieve these school and district sustainability goals.
Speakers:
Sean McPhetridge, Superintendent, Cabrillo Unified School District
Doron Markus, Career Technical Education and Science Coordinator, San Mateo COE
Andra Yeghoian, Environmental Literacy and Sustainability Coordinator, San Mateo COE
Designing spaces and opportunities to build Resiliency and Ownership for K-12 youth:
Supporting and Empowering Health, Wellness and Community-Building
(VIRTUAL ONLY SESSION)
Attend this session to engage in several actionable planning aspects and tools for creating educational environments that enhance health and wellness, resiliency and build community. Our session topics are keenly focused on end-users at the margins for whom education, and life, may be atypical and seeks to share tools that address the needs of the users and how we can serve them better.
Our session is focused on sharing successful and established programs and tools that relate to next and best practices in Community Schools and Educational Visioning in the share of Redwood City School Districts Community Schools and Family Centers, USC/LAUSD “Little Yogini’s” program. Our session shares the student and community-based discovery process that embeds health, wellness and inclusion into the process.
Speakers:
Mary Ruppenthal, Pre-K-12 Market Sector Leader, HED
Tina Koneazny, Associate Director, Administration and Educational Outreach, USC Joint Educational Project
Accelerated Infrastructure Deployment & Student Involvement
This session will discuss how to include students in the telling of your story and support their Green Career Path Choices.
The Learning Objectives for this session are:
1. How 2 School Districts “got it done”
2. Identifying and overcoming Obstacles.
3. Listing available Resources
4. Determining and Implementing Your own electrification strategy.
5. Effective ways to involve your students
Electric School Buses are a symbol of hope and a means of change for Disadvantaged Communities!
Speakers:
Gilbert Rosas, Director II Sustainability & Adaptation, Modesto City Schools
Karely Carlos, Science Department Chair, Stockton Unified School District
Elliott Feldman, Program Manager Sustainability Business, Schneider Electric
Saving Money While Integrating Climate Action and Work-based Learning
Schools play an often overlooked role in addressing climate change. Join us to learn about an innovative partnership between Porterville Unified School District and nonprofit Climate Action Pathway for Schools where paid student interns are developing projects that have reduced the districts’ energy costs by $850,000 and greenhouse gas emissions by 24%. Together the partners have raised over $6.8 million for related facility upgrades through state and federal grants. Learn how your district can save money, seek facility funding, and provide high-quality college and career programs for students.
Speakers:
Jenn Garvin, Energy and Sustainability Program Manager, Porterville Unified/Climate Action Pathways for Schools
Kirk Anne Taylor, Executive Director, Climate Action Pathways for Schools
Emilio Valencia, High School Student, Porterville Unified School District
Victor Medina, High School Student, Porterville Unified School District
TBD, Work-Based Learning Coordinator, Porterville Unified School District
Greening Our Schools
The session will cover upcoming changes to local and state legislation and how it affects schools and the built environment. The talk will further explore effective innovative measures to make our schools energy sufficient, resilient, and with safe indoor air quality in the event of a climate emergency such as a wild fire event. We will also look at measures for making existing school buildings more energy efficient and resilient.
Speaker:
Hafsa Burt, Principal, hb+a Architects
“Many Hands Make Light Work”
The Collaborative Effort of School/District Personnel in Building a CA Green Ribbon School
Suisun Valley School (SVS) enriches its educational program with agriscience on its two-acre farm. A full-time agriscience teacher designs and coordinates agriscience lessons and project-based learning activities to engage students in caring for all aspects of the school’s garden. Students participate in the entire farm-to-fork cycle, directly linking healthy soil, healthy produce, healthy food choices, healthy humans, and a healthy planet. All campus landscape is xeriscaping, and site irrigation uses targeted drip systems, allowing for specific areas to be watered while maximizing water conservation and absorption. In 2019, SVS built an 8,000 square foot library, office, staff workspace, and Innovation Lab complex using state-of-the-art materials and systems with an emphasis on plumbing, insulation, natural lighting, natural colors, and views that allow the building’s occupants to connect with the surrounding landscape. In 2021, the complex received the Outstanding Project award from Learning by Design Awards of Excellence.
Speakers:
Jas Bains Wright, Principal, Suisun Valley K-8 Elementary School
Heather Merodio, Suisun Valley School Agriscience Teacher, Fairfield Suisun Unified School District
Marina Romero, Project Manager, Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District
Mariana Alvarez-Parga, Principal, 19six Architects
Greening Our Schools
The session will cover upcoming changes to local and state legislation and how it affects schools and the built environment. The talk will further explore effective innovative measures to make our schools energy sufficient, resilient, and with safe indoor air quality in the event of a climate emergency such as a wild fire event. We will also look at measures for making exisitng school buildings more energy efficient and resilient.
Speaker:
Hafsa Burt, Principal, hb+a Architects
A Case Study for a Cost-Effective Electric Bus Fleet Transition and Resiliency Plan
The session will provide answers to questions many school districts administrators and facilities manager have when they explore replacing their diesel or gas school bus fleet with electric buses. Based on a real case study, the presenters will discuss the process for assessing which bus routes lend themselves to cost-effective electrification, the electrical infrastructure needed to charge the buses, how to establish the resiliency and reliability of charging infrastructure and the cost-savings and other revenue sources that enable possible financing of the school bus electrification. The session is based on a real-life case study performed in collaboration with an electric utility company. The session will respond to anxieties regarding the reliability of charging infrastructure, impact on the electric utility bills and possible savings from reduced diesel or natural gas use, avoided emissions. The presentation will discuss savings and possible revenue sources for reducing the high cost of school bus electrification. The presentation will highlight results from the Hazelwood School District zero-emission fleet feasibility study, which included route and duty cycle modeling to assess bus electrification viability as well as modeling of charging scenarios to minimize energy costs and infrastructure upgrades.
Speakers:
Pramod Kulkarni, Senior Advisor, Customized Energy Solutions
Charles Ray, Business Development Director, Microgrid Labs
Additional Showcase Videos:
Registrants will also have access within the Summit virtual platform to product and service videos, and how you can benefit from these with your sustainability projects. You will hear from such organizations as Baker Electric Renewables, First Note Finance inc., Vector Energy Group, Ferguson HVAC, Solatube International, Smart Rain, Dynamic Coatings, Metrus, Constructive Systems Inc. and many more.
All education sessions and showcase videos will be available on demand following the live Green California Schools & Community Colleges Summit on October 18th. You will be able to watch them in any order.
The Call for Presentations has Closed.
For questions please contact Star Olea at solea@green-technology.org