National Green Schools Conference Draws Charter, Traditional Educators

About 1,000 people attended the first Green Schools National Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in October, according to the event’s Executive Director, Jim McGrath, who is already looking toward Denver as the next host city in February 2012.

"There is a strong, strong initiative to unite green charter schools across the country," McGrath said in an interview with the National Charter School Resource Center. He said that the conference was intended for staff from schools using environmental practices such as recycling and building designs that conserve energy.

The conference for the K-12 education community was a project of the Green Charter Schools Network, a Wisconsin not-for-profit organization. But the conference gathered leaders and educators from all types of schools, along with business, community, and public policy leaders, according to conference organizers.

Bringing together teachers and leaders from traditional and charter schools was a notable achievement, McGrath said. "Because there have been some lines drawn in the sand, that doesn’t happen very often," McGrath said. "And so everyone was saying we all do need to work together and kind of break down some of the barriers because green schools are good for kids, and they are really necessary with all the health and money issues that we have."

The conference program guide provides details of the event.

McGrath provided the Resource Center with a copy of the “Green School Design Essentials”.