Schools

Council Rock Receives National Recognition for Environmental Programs

Council Rock has been named a Green Ribbon School District by the U.S. Department of Education.

Council Rock has been named a Green Ribbon School District by the U.S. Department of Education, officials announced Wednesday. 

It is just one of nine school districts in the country to be honored for its efforts to reduce environmental impact and utility costs, promote better health and ensure effective environmental education.

Superintendent Mark Klein said officials from the United States Department of Education along with the White House Council on Environmental Quality made the announcement Tuesday.

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Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said honorees “are modeling a comprehensive approach to being green by encompassing facility, wellness and learning into their daily operations.” 

A team led by Renee Devlin, the Council Rock science coordinator, and Doug Taylor, Council Rock’s supervisor of operations, submitted the application in November.

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“In Council Rock, our dilemma was not finding initiatives and programs but, instead, filtering the many great programs we offer into the application’s word limits,” Klein said in an email sent district-wide.  

Klein said Suzanne Wray, Executive Director of the Council Rock Education Foundation, was instrumental in the final submission of our application.  “Many of the programs we highlighted in the application were sponsored, in whole or in part, through grants from the Council Rock Education Foundation,” he said.

In January, the Pennsylvania Department of Education announced that Council Rock was nominated Pennsylvania Green Ribbon School District.  Nominations submitted by states were part of the pool of schools considered for the national award, Klein said.

“From trout hatching in classrooms at MMW, to electronic recycling at CR South, to organic gardening at Newtown Elementary, to energy efficiency across all of our schools, our application was a showcase for the many effective environmental and sustainability programs that have grown in our schools and our school community over the past six years,” Klein said.

“The Green Ribbon School District Award is a reflection on all of us—students, schools and our community.  We are proud to share this award with the entire Council Rock community,” he said. 


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