February Message from the USD 224 Superintendent
by Brian Pekarek
The “Greening” of our School District
I always marvel at how a small pebble thrown into a pond causes waves that spread throughout the whole body of water. This is the same way that I view the positive and proactive changes with our “green energy” initiatives within the Clifton-Clyde School District. Just like the pond, the green energy changes started with a small event, and branched out to positively affect many educational aspects within our district. We are continuing to feel the positive effect of this change with the students, the staff, the community, (and now the state). In this month’s address, I will focus on the progress of our “green energy” initiatives within our district this year, and talk about some of our most recent honors dealing with environmental education.
Energy Audit: Last summer, the USD 224 School Board took a major step in environmental education by agreeing to have an “Energy Audit” of our school district. The audit evaluated the structural components of the district and identified ways that we could change our current practices and facilities so that we could become more energy efficient. The information collected was extremely useful in changing the way that we saw and used energy.
Wind and Solar Energy: In September, the Clifton-Clyde Community constructed the “USD 224 Clean and Renewable Energy Site” at Clifton-Clyde High School. This site gave the school district an opportunity to showcase both wind and solar energy technologies to our students, staff, and community. The wind turbine was connected to the vocational education shop, while the solar-powered water pump brought water to the surface of the ground in order to water the donated Kansas perennials (These were planted by Student Council and National Honor Society students and sponsors.)
Wind Energy Day: In November, environmental education aspects continued when Alyssa Hubert, Michelle George, and Mitchell Long created the Wind Energy Day for USD 224 students, staff, and community members. In addition to this, all four of the district’s state-elected lawmakers attended the activities.
CCHS Solar Panel: In December, another grant to the school district gave us an opportunity to place a solar panel in the front of Clifton-Clyde High School. This solar panel would not only be “symbol of change” as people walked into the front of CCHS, but it would generate enough electricity to run the front lights of the school.
Greenhouse: In January, we acquired enough grant funding to buy a large greenhouse and assemble it at CCHS. After the greenhouse is established, we have plans to add a hydroponic watering device and an aquaculture system with native fish and invertebrates.
Composting Projects: In the next few months, (with the help of grants from KS Waste Management) we have plans to start two biomass composting projects for the school district. The plan is simple: instead of throwing out our food waste at our two food service locations, we will try to compost as much of the food waste as possible in 12 large compost bins at each location. In 7 weeks, we hope to have compost that the students can use for our outdoor vegetable gardens in both locations. Our goal is to teach the students about reducing/ reusing waste, experimenting with gardening, and being “good stewards” of our natural resources.
2010 Green Schools Conference: Last week, Clifton-Clyde High School was notified that it was selected as the “host school” for the 2010 Kansas Green School Conference. This 2-day conference will be attended by 300+ educators across the state on July 29-30th, 2010. At the conference, the students and staff at USD 224 will get a chance to showcase their projects, lead discussion groups, and talk to educators from around Kansas about creative environmental education initiatives. In addition to this, CCHS students were asked to create the advertisement for the conference. Not only will our town’s businesses have an influx of people during this time, but the visiting educators will have many chances to experience the wonderful aspects of our community for themselves.
Senator Brownback Visit: Although we have plans to show the district to various state educational leaders in the next few days, we received a phone call from Senator Brownback’s office last week. The Senator was interested in visiting the district in either April or May in order to view the environmental education projects for himself and meet with the staff and students of USD 224.
It is truly amazing to marvel at the positive “waves” of environmental education that have gone through our school district this school year. Although we cannot predict how far these “ripples” will extend, it has been exiting to see these positive changes in action.
Brian Pekarek
USD 224 Superintendent
Clifton-Clyde School District
bpekarek@usd224.com
785-445-3313
