Essential Questions for Districts

  • Who will be the key stakeholders or green champions in your district and what purpose will they serve?
  • What sustainability resources already exist that can help your school?
  • What case studies or sustainable best practices exist that your school can visit or use as a guide?
  • How will you demonstrate your commitment toward a sustainable school (e.g., mission statement, green resolution, sustainable policy adoption or green goal setting)?
  • How can sustainability initiatives connect to your school goals and impact student achievement?
  • Has your school conducted a sustainability audit (energy, water, materials and resources, purchasing, waste, )?
  • How will sustainability efforts be benchmarked, tracked and evaluated in your district?
  • What knowledge does your board of education need to support sustainability in your school and communicate to the public?
  • How can you integrate sustainability programs, green rating systems or environmental education, and science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) throughout your district?
  • How can you involve parents and other community members in your sustainability initiatives?
  • How can the school sustainability initiatives be in collaboration with a municipality effort?
  • How can the building maintenance personnel and facility managers help your school be more sustainable?
  • What cost, if any, will there be to your district’s sustainability efforts and what is an acceptable return on investment?
  • How could your district take advantage of sustainability as a lens for school improvement, staff and administration collaboration and a rich connection between the school and the community?
  • How could sustainability efforts help engage students and improve test scores (e.g., using the school building as a learning lab)?
  • What programs does your school have planned to educate for sustainability to the staff and students?
  • What can the district do to increase awareness about sustainability and the school’s sustainability projects?
  • How can students be part of the process for benchmarking, implementing and tracking sustainability in your school?
  • What school event or activity can your district create that will showcase and celebrate your accomplishments?