This document discusses sustainability initiatives in Northwest Arkansas schools. It describes how green teams in schools across the region focus on reducing waste and recycling. It also discusses how school districts have incorporated more sustainable practices into building designs and infrastructure to reduce costs and environmental impact. Several schools in the area have established outdoor classrooms and gardens for hands-on learning about the environment. The initiatives aim to teach students the importance of sustainability and environmental stewardship.

1. AUGUST 2013
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P E O P L E • P L A C E S • E V E N T S F O O D • F U N
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The
Green
Issue

2. 56 | CITISCAPES • AUGUST 2013
Haas Hall Academy scholars
celebrate Earth Day in 2013
Fayetteville Public Schools has
implemented green teams in every
school in the district
Sustainability is a
word that’s thrown
around a lot,
said Dana Smith,
Fayetteville Public
Schools Sustainability
Coordinator.
But what drives
sustainability,
Smith said, are
environment, equity
and economics.
And those three
things are found
in schools all over
Northwest Arkansas
with all kinds of
different green and
environmentally
conscious initiatives.
From school
gardens to building
efforts, teachers,
staff and students
have gone beyond
the classroom
to incorporate
the environment
into delivering
a wholesome
education.
56 | CITISCAPES • AUGUST 2013
fe at ur e | By Sarah Guinn
Going Beyond the Classroom
A Lesson on How Northwest Arkansas
Schools are Going Green
Green Teams
Haas Hall Academy green teams
are committed to keeping their school a
“zero waste” environment, said Marty
Schoppmeyer, the school’s superintendent.
“The green team’s primary role was
to evaluate Haas Hall Academy’s energy
conservation policies and recycling
programmatic efforts,” he said. Students
involved with the green team provide daily
waste audits and have made an effort to
recycle all trash.
Green teams have also been in place
at Bonnie Grimes Elementary, said
Ashley Siwiec, Rogers Public Schools
communications director.
Bonnie Grimes Elementary students
collected leftover food from lunches and
turned them into compost materials,
using them to help fertilize flowerbeds in
the school’s outdoor classrooms, she said.
Because of these efforts, students have
diverted more than 520 pounds of waste
from landfills.
Fayetteville Public Schools first
introduced its green teams in 2006 and have
implemented them in every school in the
district. Every school’s green team has a
specific goal in mind, and it varies from
school to school, Smith said.
“[The green teams] have the flexibility
to determine what they want to focus on in
their school,” she said. Some focus solely on
waste reduction while others will gear their
efforts toward saving energy or growing the
school garden, and there are some that do a
little bit of everything.
One commonality between all the green
teams is recycling. “Students…go around and
collect paper and take it to the paper dumpster.
It provides an opportunity for students to
be engaged; they are taking an active role.

3. WWW.CITISCAPES.COM | 57
They get to see what is being recycled,
what can and can’t be.” This, in turn, often
motivates students to recycle more at home
and share their knowledge with family.
All of Fayetteville Public Schools’ green
teams meet at the end of the school year
for a district-wide celebration at Botanical
Garden of the Ozarks to share ideas and
achievements with other schools as well as
community organizations, Smith said. “It’s a
fantastic program and good model to have a
green team,” she said.
Green teams are also being implemented
as an after-school club at St. Joseph’s Catholic
School beginning this fall, said school
principal Marcia Diamond.
Middle school students are responsible
for collecting paper and cardboard from
the school’s classrooms and taking it to the
recycling containers provided by the city, she
said. Church members are also encouraged to
bring their recyclables to the school, which is
on the church campus.
“I think it’s important in general for
students to understand that resources…are
not unlimited,” she said. “God gave us this
earth and it’s our job to take care of it.”
School Building Efforts
“Everything we look at, we look at from a
greeninitiativestandpoint,”saidVicEngland,
Bentonville Public Schools energy manager.
The school district has taken building and
design measures to reduce waste and lessen
costs, he said.
Timed irrigation systems and water
restrictors, called aerators, are a few ways
the district has reduced waste and cut water
expenses. Irrigation throughout the district
is tracked by the gallon and cost. England
also keeps tabs on water consumption from
school to school; that way he knows exactly
what each school is utilizing.
He also said that, to ensure irrigation
water goes into the ground instead of
evaporating and wasting, sprinkler
systems are designed to irrigate at 3 a.m.,
when it’s the coolest, as opposed to the
heat of the day.
Aerators placed on water faucets
throughout the district are helping cut
costs, England said. They reduce a faucet’s
water flow from 5 gallons per minute
to 1.1 gallons per minute. Through this
initiative, Bentonville Public Schools
have saved 4.5 million gallons a year and
$50,000 in costs.
“It’s a win-win,” England said. “It’s going
to save the district money and also save…
wasted water that we would have utilized
for no reason.”
Rogers Public Schools have also taken
building efforts to be more energy efficient,
Siwiec said. The district recently did a lot
of retrofitting of lighting and installed new
windows that will help reduce heating and
cooling expenses, she said.
These energy-efficient efforts have been
reflected in designing and constructing
Rogers’newestschool,JanieDarrElementary,
which is set to open this year, she said.
“We’re always looking for ways to save
energy whether it’s through our lighting,
temperature control, shutting down our
computers more frequently. It helps us save
money to put back into education instead of
utilities or other costs.”
Fayetteville’s Butterfield Trail Elementary
and Happy Hollow Elementary are
certified LEED (Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design) schools, designed to
qualify as an energy-efficient building with
a conservation of resources and materials,
Smith said.
Designs ranging from low flow plumbing
to a storm water pond near the school are
part of Happy Hollow Elementary’s LEED
certification efforts.
Fayetteville’s Butterfield
Trail Elementary

4. 58 | CITISCAPES • AUGUST 2013
School Garden at
Rogers’ Russell D. Jones
Elementary
fe at ur e
School Gardens
and Projects
Appreciation for nature and experiences in
nature’s beauty are part of the curriculum to
provide an environmentally rich education for
students at Walnut Farm Montessori School in
Bentonville, said Ellen Beach, school principal.
“When the children work in our outdoor
classroom, they use real tools and are exposed
to real work in this outdoor classroom
setting,” she said. “Our fruitful environments
allow the children to develop their senses
and practical life skills; this type of exposure
to these formative activities serves useful all
the way into adulthood.”
Springdale Public Schools have
incorporated several school gardens to
help supplement students’ education, said
communications director Rick Schaeffer.
T. G. Smith Elementary’s outdoor
classroom was started nearly 20 years ago,
he said. And since then, gardens have been
added at Harp Elementary and Willis D.
Shaw Elementary schools.
Rogers’ Russell D. Jones Elementary
teachers planted the school’s garden in 2007
and have kept it going since then, Siwiec said.
The goal of the garden was to create a
hands-on experience for the young students
at Jones Elementary and help them become
responsible environmentalists. Flowerbeds
in the garden were constructed with the help
of Walmart and Farm Bureau grants given to
the Rogers School District, she said.
Grace Hill Elementary students and
staff, also in Rogers, have taken on green
initiative projects through avid recycling and
composting, Siwiec said.
Fayetteville Public Schools have taken
a similar initiative with their school
gardens and Farm to School program. Ten
of Fayetteville’s 14 schools have their own
gardens that teachers and students tend to.
Schools are able to use some produce from
the garden in the cafeteria, Smith said.
“They can grow some lettuce greens
that supplement what’s needed on the
salad bar,” she said. “We have seen that
when students know that it came from
the garden, they’re more excited. When
students are a part of the growing process,
they’re more connected.”
Fayetteville Public Schools were recently
recognized among 14 other schools
nationwide for its sustainability efforts
with the U.S. Department of Education
Green Ribbon School Sustainability
Award, Smith said.
“It’s important to provide this
environment for students,” she said. “They’re
going to be our leaders. If they grow up in
this environment where they learn and take
an active role, it’ll make them good decision
makers for the community and the world.” ■
58 | CITISCAPES • AUGUST 2013
Students inspect
plants at Russell
D. Jones Elementary
Walnut Farm
Montessori School
in Bentonville
Walnut Farm
Montessori School
Walnut Farm
Montessori School
Springdale’s Harp
Elementary students
work the garden