Dear -
It is with great pleasure that I present you with the first official edition
of Greening the Next Generation,
SFUSD's monthly environmental newsletter. This resource will serve as a companion to the SFUSD Sustainability website ( www.greenthenextgen.com), which is launching today in honor of Earth Day. Together, the newsletter and website will educate SFUSD employees,
students, parents, and the community about the efforts underway to reduce our
District's impact on the environment. They will also provide information about upcoming
grants and educational opportunities, as well as best practices being implemented
at schools in our city. If you have story ideas or suggestions you'd like to share, feel free to contact me at your convenience. I look forward to a
productive year and a sustainable future!
Nik
Kaestner Director
of Sustainability SFUSD P.S. You are receiving this newsletter because of your relationship with SFUSD. PLEASE SHARE IT FAR AND WIDE!!! If you wish to continue receiving one every month, sign up using the link to the right.
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FIRST EVER
Bike to School Day is May 28th
Free Goodies for Students Who Ride to School
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 With the goal of getting 1% of students - 550 kids - to
bike to school, SFUSD is hosting the first annual Bike to School Day on May 28, 2009. Less than 0.1% of San
Francisco children currently bike to school.
Most are driven by parents or take the bus, significantly worsening traffic
congestion and putting countless children at risk from poor air quality. Biking, on the other hand, has the potential to provide a regular source of exercise to the 66% of our city's kids that does not meet
recommended daily activity levels.
Sponsored by the Department of Public Health, YMCA,
and San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, Bike
to School Day will be used to educate students, parents, staff, and the community about the benefits of biking. Students and adults will learn and practice bicycle safety prior to the event, and participating schools will organize Commuter Convoys to safely accompany students on their ride. Participating bikers will receive a Bike to School Day bag complete with SF Youth
Safe cycling guide, bike map, healthy snacks, sunscreen, reflective gear, and
other goodies. For more info or to
organize your school, visit SF Bike to School Day.
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Schools Kick Off Tree Planting Campaign
Website Makes It Easy for Schools to Raise Funds
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 Trees beautify our schools,
reduce stormwater
runoff and heat islands, remove carbon from the atmosphere, and improve
student academic performance. That's why SFUSD, in collaboration with
Friends
of the Urban Forest (FUF), SF Green Schoolyard Alliance, and the
Mayor's Office of
Greening, is aiming to plant 2012 new trees in and around SF schools by
2012.
They will serve as a visual sign of the District's commitment to its
students
and the environment.
SFUSD kicked off its campaign by planting street trees at Robert Louis Stevenson Elementary School. Students, parents, and teachers showed up on city-wide Arbor Day to dig holes, prepare the soil, and plant six New Zealand Christmas trees. Since the launch, Lowell High School and Charles Drew Elementary have also planted new trees, and Rosa Parks Elementary used the new 2012 by 2012 website to raise almost $5000 in just one week. The website makes it easy to invite school community members (and their employers) to make small or large donations toward an on-site tree-planting campaign.
For more information, contact Nik Kaestner, Director of Sustainability.
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Green Schools Making News
Environmental Efforts Get Media Attention
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 All around the District, students, parents, and staff are working together to reduce the environmental footprint of their school. Every now and then, their efforts catch the attention of the local media. Lately, this has been happening quite a bit!
Alice Fong Yu took on Peabody Elementary in the first ever Earth Hour Challenge. To see who could save more energy, each school shut off all unneeded lighting, computers, and appliances during lunch on March 26th. Unfortunately, their energy use dropped so low that it was impossible to determine a winner. Check out the story on ABC.
On February 26th, Francisco Middle School students in the Presidio Community YMCA's after-school bike
program, treated guests to a demonstration of safe
bicycling and intersection negotiation. Francisco Middle School was one
of eight schools to receive new bike racks thanks to a grant secured by the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition. Read all about it.
Rosa Parks Elementary won the EcoZone Media Green My School contest and received the news from the Mayor himself on January 23rd. The school was one of fourteen applicants from within the District. Parents and staff at Rosa Parks are now busy planning the projects that will green their school, including the installation of solar panels, a green roof, and new recycling bins. CBS covers the event.
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TEACHER TRAINING & RESOURCES
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SF Film Festival(April 27-May 7) Special screenings for schools are available during the day so your students can watch cool environmental documentaries. Occidental Arts & Ecology Center (Jun, Jul, Aug)
Hosts a five-day training program that offers theory and hands-on skills for sustaining a school garden.Solar Schoolhouse (Jul 12-17)
Summer Institute
participants
build a variety of solar powered projects in preparation for teaching
them to students, including solar-powered race cars, cookers, homes,
and fountains.
Cal Academy (Ongoing)
Offers sustainability workshops, a summer institute, and classroom kits to integrate hands-on activities into your curriculum.
SF Department of the Environment (Ongoing)
Sponsors classroom presentations, assemblies, field trips, and the school recycling and composting programs.
PG&E Solar Training
(Ongoing)
Activity-packed workshops educate teachers about solar energy and provide classroom kits for hands-on learning.
GRANTS & FUNDING
For Green Projects
(September 20)
Bright Ideas Grants up to $10,000 are awarded to schools with innovative solar projects, environmental
curricula, science field trips, green school projects, and professional development.
For Solar Schools
(September 22)
Demonstration solar installations are available for up to forty schools in the PG&E service territory. Over twenty SFUSD schools have received this grant.
For School Gardens
The SF Green Schoolyard Alliance maintains a list of garden resources and grants for schools working to develop school gardens and green schoolyards.
For Energy Projects
The Alliance for Climate Education is offering free, engaging high school assemblies about global warming, as well as scholarships and grants up to $20,000 for school that sign up.
For Just About Anything
The
Green Schools Initiative has compiled a list of green school
fundraisers that generate revenue while going easy on the planet.
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