Looking at the gleaming new solar panel arrays dotting Culver City school parking lots you might see extra shade on a hot day, and green technology converting sunlight into renewable energy. But it turns out that the transformative power of solar burns even brighter and deeper, as was highlighted at Tuesday’s “flip the switch” ceremony at Farragut Elementary School, marking the official launch of Culver City Unified School District’s solar initiative.
CCUSD assistant superintendent Mike Reynolds looks at those same panels and sees millions of tax-free dollars flowing into our classrooms to improve educational quality and opportunity. Todd Johnson, co-chair of CCUSD’s Environmental Sustainability Committee, sees the equivalent environmental benefit of planting almost 5,000 new trees every year.
Middle-schoolers Siena Szeto and Ella Brindle see the chance to take a leadership role and teach other students about climate change, the benefits of alternative forms of energy, how solar energy works, and ways they can help take care of the earth. For Superintendent Dave LaRose, solar marks a watershed moment for CCUSD.
“Not only are we making our campuses greener and saving money that can be used for a variety of educational initiatives,” LaRose said. “We are also creating a living, breathing classroom that will help teach our students about alternative energy.”
Representing the district’s largest alternative energy investment to date, the solar project includes installations of new photovoltaic panels atFarragut Elementary School as well as the Middle School and the High School. The dramatically reduced energy costs they provide, together with guaranteed solar initiative rebates will pump an estimated $400,000 into the general fund every year, with more than $8 million anticipated during the equipment’s warranty period alone.
Solar is the latest in a series of innovative sustainability efforts spearheaded by CCUSD’s volunteer Environmental Sustainability Committee since its founding in 2010. The overall goal, says co-chair Shea Cunningham, is to “create a fully sustainable CCUSD [meeting our needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs] by ‘greening’ operations in a fiscally responsible way and by fostering a community of globally responsible citizens, including our students.”
The District’s formula for success is two-fold: scour the country for best practices, and then bring together community, administration, teachers, employees, parents, non-profits, city leaders and businesses to implement them. It’s been recognized as a model that works. Recently CCUSD and its Environmental Sustainability Committee earned the 2013 Leadership Award at the Annual Green California Schools Summit, one of the nation’s largest “green school” events where schools gather to share innovations in policy, technology and practice.
Like other key CCUSD sustainability efforts (recycling, Green 5, composting), solar combines environmental benefits and fiscal responsibility today with educational opportunities to help develop tomorrow’s sustainability leaders.
The solar launch was bookended by two significant educational components. On Monday, CCUSD held assemblies in conjunction with award-winning nonprofit Alliance for Climate Education (ACE) to educate students about the science behind climate change and inspire them to take action to reverse its impact. Blending storytelling, cutting edge animation, music and video, the presentation explained greenhouse gases and how human-caused emissions risk altering the world’s climate on an unprecedented scale. It also gave students specific ways to make a difference.
Following Tuesday’s kickoff event, Siena Szeto and Ella Brindle will join 10 other middle school student docents and lead tours of the new solar installations for elementary school students over the coming days. “We’ve already learned a lot about solar energy and renewable resources, and are really looking forward to being docents to teach more kids about it,” said Szeto and Brindle. “It’s pretty cool to say that we’re all doing something that matters, and hopefully this is just the first step.”
“That peer-to-peer learning opportunity really underscores all we are doing as a District to integrate environmental sustainability into everything we teach,” LaRose added. “From math and science to statistics and art, we continually remind our students that the environment is important and empower them to play an active role in protecting it.”
While celebrating the solar launch and its immediate impact, Johnson also looks forward to an even brighter future.
“It’s my hope that sometimes as we pass by the solar arrays, we’ll picture Siena and Ella and the students in their tour groups, and imagine the gamechanging innovations they’ll bring to their communities and their children’s schools 20 or 30 years from now,” Johnsons said.
