District Administration - August 2006 - (Page 46)

FACILITIES & CONSTRUCTION classrooms have skylights, which are Green Meets Cincinnati set above light wells allowing natural light to wash down walls. And this is balanced with windows placed Ohio can be considered the land of the oldest school buildings in the on exterior walls. The whole idea U.S., according to a General Accounting Office study done in the mid- of natural lighting is not to bring in 1990s, according to Michael Burson, facilities director for Cincinnati as much light as possible, but good Public Schools. quality light, at an even level, says For years, the state never helped pay for capital costs, so many dis- Timothy Byrne, project manager for tricts across Ohio let buildings go. The average age of the city's school facilities at Olympia schools. buildings is about 60 years. One new Cincinnati school that just opened replaced a building built in 1876. Indoor Air Quality The U.S. Green Building Council, a coalition of leaders from the build- About half of the nation's 120,000 ing industry to promote environmentally healthy places, helped Cincinnati private and public school buildings officials write guidelines for its green programs. have indoor air quality problems, The council also defines the LEED Green Building Rating System, a according to the U.S. Environmental national standard for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings. Protection Agency. Part of the push for green buildings in Cincinnati came from Ginny Fra- Indoor air pollution is considered zier, a neighbor of Pleasant Ridge Elementary School, which will be the among the greatest health risks, city's first LEED school when it's completed by 2009 or 2010. As execu- causing headaches, nasal congestion, tive director of the Alliance for Leadership and Interconnection, a local breathing problems and other ail- green building advocacy group, Frazier says she wanted to push environ- ment s. Volatile Organic Compounds mental - healthy programs. are chemicals used to manufacture Three years ago, when she learned the school behind her house and maintain building materials, would be rebuilt, she went to school officials and offered her vision of cleaning products and furnishings. what the new building should be. Neighbors, community people and edu- Green schools across the U.S. are cators gathered to discuss ideas with the building council. trying to minimize the use of carpets, Her vision includes geothermal heating so the new building uses the as in Cincinnati. So we're using hard earth's temperature for cooling and heating, using natural building materi- surface flooring, tile or similar mate- als, noxious-free cleaning products and art supplies, as well as natural water ria ls that are less expensive, Burson filtration systems. Burson says the guidelines for the new schools were devel- says. There has been a resurgence of oped as a result of many individuals' and local LEED advocates' ideas. linoleum. The attraction there is that it requires less rigorous maintenance such as waxing, he says. C a ldwel l, the district's green build- a s Great Seneca Creek Elementary Another important component of i ng program manager. School, the county's fi rst LEED-certi- air quality is acoustics, Burson adds. Skyl ight s tend to give off too fied school to open next month. He notes some studies show that much light, whereas roof monitors, A 15-year-old program in Mont- classrooms and students would benefit with vertical glazing, provide more gomer y called School Eco Response from noises that were no louder than a and better indirect daylight in sev- Team has students patrol the 195 certain level. Ceiling tiles and technol- era l Montgomery County schools, schools' rooms to turn off lights and ogy, like a teacher's microphone, can Caldwell says. computers not in use. The schools dampen those noises, he says. She came to the U.S. eight years that save the most electricity receive T he Center for New American ago from her native Germany, where cash rewards. The district overall Dream published 200 green clean- energy conservation was as preva- saves about 5 percent in utility bills, i ng products at www.newdream. lent as bratwurst. She also intro- which means nearly $2 million a org/clea nschools. duced LEED Exit signs, which have year. It funds user education training Minimizing Waste more efficient light bulbs. and other energy-efficient measures, Low-emitting glaze windows, or Caldwell says. Also in Olympia, nearly an entire those that don't let as much heat Olympia School District in Wash- building that was torn down was enter in the summer and don't allow i ng ton also uses plenty of natural recycled. The brick, wood and metal as much heat out during the win- light. At Washington Middle School, were recycled locally and the carpet ter, are on newer schools, as well which is under renovation, typical was taken to a Georgia carpet mill 46 August 2006 District Administration greenschools.w.indd 46 7/17/06 10:37:45 AM

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - August 2006

Contents
Progress with Purpose
Future Vision
Integrity, Accountability, Continuity
A New Kind of Testing
Update
Inside The Law
Curriculum Update
Administrator Profile
District Profile
The Online Edge Odvard Egil Dyrli
Speaking Out Gary Stager
Principal Opinion Eamonn O'Donovan
Editor's Letter
Snapshots
Problem/Solution
Research Corner
New Products
By the Numbers
The Grass is Greener On This Side

District Administration - August 2006