In This Issue...
In this era when public school budgets are limited and
educational needs continue to rise, a little creativity and a lot of dedication
goes a long way.
Parents and volunteers saw the fruits of their four-year
endeavor as Kenter Canyon Charter School’s new library was dedicated on May 17,
2004. About 150 people turned out for the dedication. As impressive as the
dedication of the parents and volunteers is, it is the fairy-tale story of the
movie-set house that became a library that is so captivating.
Kenter Canyon, a public elementary school in Los Angeles, was
built in 1955 and its original library served a student body much smaller than
today's 420 students.
When the financially strapped Los Angeles Unified School
District (LAUSD) discontinued funding libraries in the district several years
ago, Kenter Canyon’s library was among those closed. The Kenter Canyon Parent
Support Group (KCPSG) rallied to reopen the library in 1993 on a
part-time basis by raising enough funds to support a part-time librarian and a
small stipend for books and other needed supplies.
In 2001, a Kenter Canyon parent learned that a fully engineered
and architecturally distinctive house, built of Douglas fir for the film "Life as
a House", was scheduled to be demolished at the end of filming. When fellow
parent and architect Scott MacGillivray saw the house the day before it was
slated to be destroyed, he was amazed at the value of the building and conceived
the idea of reusing it as a Kenter Canyon's new library. Once the donation was
legally completed, a team of 20 professional carpenters spent four days taking
the building apart, numbering all the pieces, and putting them in storage. Two
years later, the house was rebuilt on the school’s property where it now serves
as the new library.
 The original library had become so cramped it was unable
to accommodate even one entire classroom at a time. Now, several classrooms can
enjoy the library simultaneously.
A $50,000 Reuse Assistance Grant from the California Integrated Waste Management
Board (see CIWMB article)
was among the hundreds of thousands of dollars donated by parents, neighbors,
nonprofits, and businesses to complete the project. Kenter Canyon worked in
collaboration with the City of Los Angeles to complete the Reuse Assistance
Grant. The new library is named in honor of Adda and Paul Safran, parents of the
principal benefactor, Thomas Safran.
The core of the New Library Committee consisted of five Kenter Canyon parents,
who carried on past the time that their children would be able to utilize the
new library. Out of their 10 children, only one will be at Kenter Canyon next
year to enjoy the library.
Reusing the house enabled the school to save 50 percent of the
natural resources and energy it would have taken to add onto and remodel the
existing library. The shelving was removed from the original library and is
utilized in the new library; the original library now serves as Kenter Canyon’s
art gallery.
While the new library is the largest reuse effort ever conducted
at Kenter Canyon, the administration and the parent committee have consistently
exercised this type of creative thinking about reuse. When the school rebuilt
its playground several years ago, LAUSD saved the replaced equipment and
installed it at another school in the district. Parent volunteers also built a
reading garden at the school using bricks salvaged from a construction site.
This library project is a creative and productive way to promote
reuse of construction materials that would have otherwise ended up in a
landfill. This creative thinking will hopefully provide other schools with ideas
to create their own reuse success story.
 Kenter Canyon Charter School
645 North Kenter Avenue
Los Angeles, California
Note: This project was first
featured in the summer 2002 issue of Environment Matters.
Top
Five local groups have joined forces to create the Davis Joint
Unified School District's (DJUSD) Recycle Program Partnership with a goal to
reduce the solid waste stream at eight elementary schools by 50 percent. As a
result, the first day of the 2003/2004 school year began with the theme,
"Recycling is Simply Elementary (RISE)."
Each member of the collaboration contributes
key components to the RISE program's overall success:
- Davis Waste Removal supplies the schools with the basic
equipment for students and staff to establish a baseline waste reduction
program at each school site.
- The City of Davis printed an introductory letter for parents
at back-to-school night, explaining the importance of the waste reduction
program and encouraging parents to become part of the program solution.
- Davis Educational Foundation works with each school PTA to
promote parent participation, prepares informational packets, and assists with
program training for the parents.
- The RCC Group, a local consulting firm volunteering to assist,
developed a workable model for the sites in order to reach the 50 percent
reduction goal.
- The School Recycle Team at DJUSD implements the on-site
program and monitors the garbage dumpsters and recycle bins each evening to
ensure accurate records.
The main components of the program include:
- The recycling coordinator works with principal, custodian, and
science teachers to organize the program at each school.
- Students recycle their breakfast and lunch waste, with the
help of the on-site coordinator, other students, lunch supervisors, or
staff--depending on the school's setup.
- Recyclable materials are picked up by Davis Waste Removal.
- Compostable materials (fruits and vegetables) are incorporated
into the composting system at each school, as part of the school garden
curriculum.
For more information, see the
RISE program web site.
Additionally, for an example of how the partnership monitors the program for
effectiveness and opportunities for cost savings,
see the memorandum to the RISE
coordinator (Adobe PDF, 43 KB) on the program’s initial progress and recommendations for reducing
the pickup frequency of solid waste bins at the school sites.
You can also read about the DJUSD’s efforts to pilot
comprehensive food waste diversion projects at three elementary schools on the Board’s
food scrap diversion site.
Top
6th Annual Environmental & Recycled Product Trade Show (April
2005)
The California Integrated Waste Management Board is proud to
host, for the sixth consecutive year, the
Annual Environmental and Recycled
Product Trade Show on April 6-7, 2005, at the Ontario Convention Center in
Ontario, California. The show has successfully continued to attract public
agencies and businesses from California and nationwide.
The purpose of the show is to promote recycling-based businesses
and the purchasing of recycled-content and environmentally preferable products (RCPs
and EPPs). The show brings together more than 100 exhibitors and over 2,000
attendees--buyers, specification writers, project managers, and support
staff--all the people that make procurement decisions.
Finding procurement contacts within hundreds of State and local
government entities and private industry can be extremely challenging;
therefore, we bring them to you--all under one roof. This event provides you
with an opportunity to gain access to procurement leaders in the largest markets
in the country, and allows government and industry purchasing officials the
opportunity to become familiar with the wide array of RCPs and EPPs--transportation
products, paper products, office supplies, toner cartridges, containers,
furnishings, flooring/surfacing, insulation, lumber, etc. Attendees can place
orders and conduct business with suppliers on the trade show floor to help them
meet their unique RCP and EPP procurement requirements.
Along with a myriad other RCPs and EPPs, this year’s show will
highlight environmentally preferable transportation products and services. These
products can save you money--even those that may cost the same or slightly more
up front will save money in the long run through energy savings and reduced
maintenance and replacement costs.
Finally, participating in the trade show provides you with an
opportunity to share information, network, increase awareness of RCPs and EPPs,
and improve your bottom-line. Don’t miss this opportunity!
For more information, please
contact Mary Farr.
Top
In the autumn 2004 issue of Environment Matters, look for
exciting information on new resources for teachers.
If you or one of your colleagues would like to be notified when
the next issue of Environment Matters is available to view, please join
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