On Wednesday in Washington, national environment officials congratulated the Culver City Unified School District on its achievements.

The School District was nominated by the state Education Dept. for its extensive efforts in not only teaching environmental sustainability but making the District more sustainable.

Recognition rewards schools and districts that demonstrate exemplary achievement in three pillars.

• Pillar I: Reduce environmental impact and costs,
• Pillar II: Improve the health and wellness of schools, students, and staff, and
• Pillar III: Provide effective environmental education that teaches many disciplines and is especially good at effectively incorporating science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, civic skills, and green career pathways.

“The School District is working hard to foster a culture of sustainability,” said School Board member Kelly Kent. “When people come to our campuses and see our solar PV arrays, award-winning custom designed sorting stations, Green5 banners and posters, they know the District embraces the responsibility to create a more sustainable world.”

Dr. Kent said students and staff have cultivated a habit of practicing the Five Rs, and an understanding of what kind of positive impact they are making as a collective community.

“As they go out into the world,” she said, “they are carrying this knowledge with them.”

At the Washington event, 45 schools and 9 districts were honored for their exemplary efforts to reduce environmental impact and costs, promote better health, and ensure effective environmental education.

In addition, nine colleges and universities were honored with the Post-secondary Sustainability Award.

Representatives from honored schools, districts and post-secondary institutions received sustainably crafted plaques in recognition of their achievements.

School Board member Anne Allaire and District Sustainability Coordinator Shea Cunningham represented the District at the event.

Honorees were selected from a pool of nominations made by 28 state education authorities, including 27 states and Dept. of Defense Education Activity.

The list of selectees includes 39 public schools and six private schools.

Forty-four percent of honorees serve a majority disadvantaged student body, 14 percent are rural, and one-third of post-secondary honorees are community or career and technical colleges.

See the list of all selected schools and districts and summaries of each of the 63 honorees.  More information on the federal recognition award can be found here. Resources for schools to meet the criteria for the award can be found here.

Mr. Maleman may be contacted at gmaleman@aol.com