Arlington Schools Tap Community Members to Focus on Sustainability

Arlington's school system is taking its commitment to going green from the board room to the classroom -- and beyond. 

Earlier this month, Arlington Public Schools Superintendent Pat Murphy created an advisory committee on sustainability, an effort to tap into the community's knowledge and expertise on meeting the schools' needs while preserving resources for the future.

The group will meet monthly to provide recommendations to Murphy in four areas: policies and procedures, the schools' energy and environment curriculum, conservation program management, and community outreach.

“We’re very, very pleased that it’s being set up,” said Mary Van Dyke, an Arlington resident, volunteer and mother, who is involved with the committee.

Several Arlington parents and community members have been working for months to form the committee. In March they created an informal task force and drafted a committee description, goals and application form.

Applications are now being accepted. Ideally, organizers would like the group to consist of 15 community members, liaisons from the school system, a student representative from each of Arlington’s high schools and a liaison from Arlington County government.

“This will enable us to reach higher and set some exciting goals for the school system,” said Elenor Hodges, executive director of Arlingtonians for a Clean Environment.

The advisory committee’s general goals and priorities are included in the Arlington Public Schools Strategic Plan for 2011 to 2017.

These include implementing teaching programs that incorporate environmentalism, designing energy-efficient school facilities and grounds, sustaining and maintaining those facilities and grounds once energy-efficiency is established, and recycling whenever possible.

“We need to start both educating about sustainability and also implementing it in actual terms in the school,” said Martin Ogle, an Arlington resident, naturalist and park manager who has worked with the committee.

As the school year progresses, the committee will clarify its goals and move forward with establishing its plans for building a more sustainable public school system.