Go Green School of the Week

Ladera Elementary School

Tustin, California

Week of October 20, 2008

It's charming to go green at Ladera Elementary School.

The Southern California school uses small walker-shaped charms to encourage students to take part in Walk to School Wednesdays. The plastic charms have turned out to be a huge hit.

"They try to collect as many charms as possible," said Pam Edmondson, the school's go-green coordinator. "We also hand them out to car-poolers, too, because some people live too far away to walk."

Students are eager to collect their charms as they walk to school on Wednesdays. Kids on Ladera's 50-member Green Team hand out the charms as students stroll onto campus or get out of car pool vehicles. Kids display their charms proudly on necklaces, shoelaces and backpacks.

The charm theme was so popular that students and parents who took part in a school gardening event got cute little pumpkin charms.

Principal Ryan Bollenbach gets in on the green movement by using public transit to commute from his home 25 miles away from school.

"I'm doing my part by taking the train and riding my scooter," Bollenbach said. "The kids get a kick out of seeing their principal riding down Tustin Ranch Road on his good ol' Vespa."

The motivation doesn't end with adorable charms. Teachers keep track of the number of students who walk or car pool to school on Wednesdays. The class with the highest monthly participation gets to display the highly coveted The Tree trophy in their classroom for an entire month.

The fun perpetual trophy started as a bare brown trunk about 2 feet tall, Edmondson explained.

"Every time a class wins, I add a leaf to the tree with that classroom's name," she said. "We hope to let this tree grow, grow, grow until it's a big green tree with all these leaves. It's created a lot of excitement."

Ladera, located in the Tustin school district about 30 minutes south of Los Angeles, is a relative newcomer to the go-green movement. The school kicked off its Ladera's Gone Green campaign last school year.

The green campaign was started by Ladera's Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO), which created a green committee that Edmondson chairs. While the PTO comes up with the ideas, the students do all the work.

"We have more than 50 kids on the Green Team," Edmondson boasted. "We have so many enthusiastic kids that they want to work all day, every day. It's cute how enthusiastic they are."

Ladera set aside an area called Green Central, located prominently as you enter the school, where green news is posted and Green Team members gather to get their job assignments. They slip into their high-profile green vests before setting out to work.

"Every day that they work, they put on a green vest so that the staff knows they're working," Edmondson said. "It's been a successful way to identify (Green Team members)."

While the green vests boost the profile of the Green Team, they've also boosted the prestige of team members.

"The Green Team is something the kids want to sign up for," Edmondson said. "It's become a cool team to be on. In that aspect, it's been even more successful than we dreamed."

"I like being on the Green Team because I get to help plan things like Green Week," fifth-grader Dani Lowder said. "Recycling is important, and I like that I get to help."

When the PTO researched ways to go green, parents discovered the school's biggest chunk of trash was coming from paper - tons and tons of paper. Last school year, Ladera recycled more than 5,200 pounds of paper. That's more than 2 tons of paper diverted from landfills.

"A lot of teachers are trying to go paperless," Bollenbach said. "They have web sites to get information to parents instead of sending home fliers. It's also budget-friendly for the school as well."

Ladera's Green Team is open to anyone at the K-5 school, except for kindergartners. The highest participation comes from students in primary grades who are often too young for other school clubs and groups.

"The Green Team is really good for our school because it keeps kids thinking about our planet," second-grader Alanna Edmondson said. "It's fun because we really get to help do all the work."

The PTO chose to have students do all the green labor to ensure the program's longevity.

"We wanted something that could sustain itself year after year," Edmondson said. "We're trying to find things that will work even when I'm not here or other parents are not here. The hard part is to make sure it's ongoing."

One of the side benefits of recycling is that Ladera makes a few bucks when it recycles cans and plastic bottles, thanks to the California redemption value of those items. A local company picks up the recyclables and gives Ladera the profits after taking a small cut. Edmondson estimated the school pulls in about $600 a month.

"You can make money doing this," she said. "It can be a fundraiser."

Ladera also gets a fee for recycling empty printer cartridges, old cell phones and other e-waste. The school has worked recycling into the fifth-grade writing curriculum.

"They're writing to businesses to request that they donate their printer cartridges to our school," Edmondson said. "When they practice their writing, it's something useful."

The money raised by the fifth-graders will put into the fund for fifth-grade promotion events.

Ladera's go-green efforts have been so successful that the Tustin school district named Ladera a pilot school for other elementary schools to emulate when launching go-green programs. The school even got $1,500 from a district grant to help fund its program.

Bollenbach saw a parent the other day wearing a T-shirt that said "Green is the New Black."

"It's really neat that it's becoming so much a part of our culture," he said. "You don't have to look for recycling bins. They're everywhere."

Ladera's Green Team has had a huge impact on everyone at the school, Edmondson said.

"The kids are so much more informed and aware these days," she said. "It has made everyone aware of the need to do their part. We're helping educate the students. It's a great thing."

 

2008-09 Go Green Schools of the Week

Fox Middle School -- Arnold, MO

Groton Central School -- Groton, NY

Old Settlers Elementary School -- Flower Mound, TX