Educators can work to advance climate solutions — solutions students can see in their schools. The Educator Advocacy Toolkit, developed in partnership between This Is Planet Ed, The National Education Association, and The American Federation of Teachers, provides educators with the strategies and resources to advance climate action locally in their school districts, including talking points to help build consensus and specific programs to leverage for funding.

“HVAC Choices for Student Health and Learning,” shares big ideas relating to school HVAC technology, offers a framework for evaluating costs and obtaining funding, and provides an overview of the benefits that come with all-electric HVAC systems. Three takeaways from the report: HVAC systems are a cornerstone of healthy and comfortable schools that support student well-being and academic performance. Schools, students & communities benefit from modern HVAC systems that are all electric and high performance. School leaders have a generational opportunity to choose all-electric, high-performance HVAC systems thanks to new funding opportunities, most notably, the Inflation Reduction Act.

This report provides examples of efforts in all three Pillars of the ED-GRS award: 1) reducing environmental impacts; 2) improving health and wellness; and 3) offering effective environmental and sustainability education. Awardees must document progress in all of these Pillars in order to be selected for the federal recognition award.

This national-scale, multi-sector report quantifies projected health effects associated with extreme heat, air quality, changing seasons, flooding, and infectious diseases. Where possible, the analyses consider the extent to which these risks disproportionately fall on children from overburdened populations.

This report provides insights from a national survey on the financial costs and benefits of hiring PK-12 sustainability and environmental health staff to drive better working and learning conditions within schools. The publication highlights professionals from 49 school districts across the country serving 4.1 million students.

This toolkit, provides key resources for champions of sustainable schools to advocate for the hiring of sustainability staff at their school or school district. The toolkit includes facts and tips, general sustainability skills and job responsibilities, job description templates, links to over a dozen actual job descriptions, as well as examples of school system organizational reporting structures to support sustainability staff/teams.

This position is responsible for planning, monitoring, promoting, coordinating, and providing technical assistance to municipal recycling programs within the county to ensure compliance with legislated environmental objectives of the State of New Jersey.

This position will perform a variety of skilled duties involved in the maintenance, operation and programming of central irrigation control systems and equipment. The position will utilize, manage and maintain central irrigation control system to maximize irrigation efficiency; work with District Irrigation personnel to identify system issues and initiate repair work orders; and support sustainability staff in water use management and reduction projects.

This position serves as a key advisor in energy management, sustainability, and related issues through planning and implementation of School Division programs. This position is responsible for establishing energy optimization protocols and facilitating energy awareness within an 11,000,000 square-foot, multi-facility environment.

The Program Manager of Sustainability develops, supervises, and executes District-wide sustainability programs and utility elements of all facilities related programs to control energy usage and utility costs, reduce pollution, and improve resource conservation. Develop and execute sustainability strategies to address construction facilities operational issues. Oversee the management and analysis of the District’s energy usage patterns, utility rate schedules, and the cost impact of inflation and rate increases.

The Outdoor Learning Specialist provides District leadership for green schoolyards and outdoor learning while establishing AISD as a national leader and innovator in outdoor learning.

The purpose of this position is to establish accountability for energy consumption at every level in the district and develop and monitor the district’s energy management program in accordance with board policy and superintendent’s guidelines for the purpose of reducing utility consumption.

The Director will develop the overall strategy of continuous improvement for environmental and health initiatives and lead the efforts of the Environmental Compliance team responsible for the development of the strategy, policies, goals and objectives for various environmental programs.

The Sustainability, Energy, and Environment Program Director at Boston Public Schools is responsible for working across BPS departments and functions to lead the District in this work and ultimately build a culture of sustainability throughout the organization.

The OTLC will be responsible for working across the districts' schools and departments, in collaboration with Friends of the Boston Schoolyards, to lead the district in outdoor teaching and learning, and the creation and maintenance of schoolyards and their outdoor education spaces with particular attention to the challenges of COVID-19.

The Climate Resiliency Program Manager will develop, implement, and evaluate aspects of district-wide climate resiliency and carbon reduction strategies as outlined in Portland Public Schools’ forthcoming Climate Crisis Response Policy. This position will also manage District-wide sustainability efforts related to energy and carbon reduction, including energy use and carbon emissions tracking and reporting.

The Zero Waste & Sustainability Project Manager is responsible for all components of the BPS Zero Waste Program, and will support the BPS Sustainability and Environmental Resources team in other areas of environmental resource conservation and sustainability programming for Facilities Management to advance the mission of the Boston Public Schools.

The Sustainability Program Manager develops, implements, and evaluates aspects of district-wide resource conservation and sustainability programs designed to make our schools and facilities more sustainable. These programs include waste reduction, behavioral conservation campaigns, occupant/community engagement and sustainability project management, and data analysis.

The Sustainability Coordinator works closely with the Sustainability Officer to assist in providing leadership, alignment, coordination and delivery in the development and improvement of sustainability initiatives across the school division. The coordinator works closely with schools to ensure that resources are available for staff and student to use to implement division wide sustainability goals.

The Sustainability Officer is responsible for implementation, administration and maintenance of all division wide sustainability initiatives.  Duties include coordinating with senior staff to ensure that social, economic and environmental outcomes are symbiotic to the division’s strategic plan.

Under the direction of Superintendent, the Executive Director of Sustainability directs the development and implementation of a new Ann Arbor Public Schools Environmental Sustainability Management Plan (ESMP) in coordination with the district’s Environmental Sustainability Taskforce and in alignment with Board of Education Policy 8000: Environmental Sustainability.

The Manager of Environmental Sustainability works under the direction of Executive Director, Environmental Sustainability, and assists in the development, continuous improvement, and implementation of the Ann Arbor Public Schools Environmental Sustainability Framework. 

Newark Academy is committed to educating students about the importance of sustainability and providing an experience in which students can develop the skills needed to be ethically responsible global citizens.The Director of Sustainability initiates and coordinates efforts to carry out the school’s mission in a way that prioritizes environmental sustainability as an essential educational and institutional value.

The Hawaii Preparatory Academy Sustainability Director is responsible for the implementation and management of the sustainability objectives set forth in the HPA Sustainability Plan. This position will lead the independent schools' commitment to integrate sustainable practices (knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors) into the physical plant, educational programs, and organizational culture.

The Princeton Day School employs the Director of Sustainability and Environmental Education to create projects at all grade levels and teach an upper school elective course in any discipline related to sustainability.

The Evergreen School is a small PK-8 independent school outside of Seattle in WA state that supports a .75 FTE sustianability coordinator role with 60% of time dedicatd to sustainability programming.

The intent and scope of this document is to provide guidance to owners, operators, designers, and professional service providers on how to best implement indoor air quality (IAQ) improvements, including risk mitigation strategies, in educational facilities.