With like-minded school staff, share best practices for creating and maintaining learning environments that are healthier for students, teachers, and the planet while gaining strategies to connect your important work to the classroom. This summit is designed to engage school facilities, energy, and sustainability staff and non-profit partners working to help green schools.

This educational summit is hosted by the Center for Green Schools and the Green Schools National Network.

See the Schedule-At-A-Glance and the Speaker Details for more information.

This Summit is sponsored by our generous sponsor, Arc Skoru

Thursday, February 25th |12:00 – 5:00 pm EST

Session One: School and District Climate Commitments

Pressure from communities and youth is mounting on school systems to step into leadership roles and take action on climate change. Several school districts have adopted formal climate commitments to lay out a vision to guide decision-making. This panel will feature three districts that have taken this step, each following a different path, and will explore how the commitment was established and what has or has not made it effective so far.

• Erik Lueders, Director of Sustainability & Purchasing, Parkway School District (MO)
• Greg Libecci, Energy & Resource Manager, Salt Lake City School District (UT)
• Lana Perice, Student, Portland Public Schools (OR)

Session Two: Healthy Schools and COVID-19 Response presentations

At no other time in recent memory has there been so much focus on school facilities’ role in keeping students and teachers healthy. Building and maintaining schools for health has been a focus of the green school movement since the beginning, and the current spotlight has the potential to bring additional attention to long-needed policies and practices within schools. This panel discusses building-related COVID response and the potential long-term implications of schools’ current actions.

• Annie Hoang, MPH Candidate, Class of 2021, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health & M.D. Candidate, Class of 2022, UCSF School of Medicine, PRIME-US; Research Associate, Center for Green Schools
• Ghita Levenstein Carroll, Sustainability Coordinator, Boulder Valley School District (CO)
• Josh Chism, Capitol Program Manager, Colorado Springs School District 11 (CO)
• Mark Korinek, C.P.M, Director of Operations, Carson City Schools (NV)

This session is sponsored by Nestl

4:00pm – 5:00pm: Facilitated chats: topics to be announced during the event

Friday, February 26th |12:00 – 5:00 pm EST

Session Three: Innovations in Energy Infrastructure for Schools presentations

Renewable energy, battery, and electrification technologies are rapidly evolving and will significantly change sustainability strategy at school systems. With more school decision-makers considering net zero energy construction and more fully understanding the impact of energy usage on climate change, it is critical for sustainability leaders to be up-to-speed and ready to act when the opportunity is presented. This panel features experts who will provide updates and representatives from school districts on the leading edge.

• Lacey Shaver, City Renewable Energy Manager, World Resources Institute (Sponsor Host)
• Paul Torcellini (Moderator), Principal Engineer, NREL
• Kate Crosby, Acton-Boxborough Regional School District (MA)
• Jennifer Wallace-Brodeur, Director of Clean Transportation, VEIC
• Jeremy Shannon, Director of Sustainable Design, NYC School Construction Authority (NY)

This session is sponsored by World Resources Institute.

Virtual Green School Tour

Since 2010, the Rochester School in Chía, Colombia, has demonstrated the importance of providing a school’s community with a living example of a commitment to sustainability. In July 2019, the school received LEED Gold recertification using Arc, becoming the first school project in Latin America to be recertified. Originally achieving a LEED Gold certification in 2012, the school and community leaders received this distinction through a commitment to providing a healthy learning environment and lifelong sustainability lessons, as well as serving as an example to the community. The benefits of being a school with a high level of performance in sustainability are made evident not only by the day-to-day occupant satisfaction and opportunities to connect sustainability curriculum to building design and performance, but also in the influence on the community. Through the sustainability initiatives in school, the larger community has been inspired to transform their habits to reduce their impact on the environment.

• Jorge Quintero, Sustainability Director, Rochester School
• Liliana Medina Campos, LEED & Environmental Process Manager, MANCO Ltda
• Pilar Tunarroza, Director of Science & Sustainability Curriculum Coordinator, Rochester School

Facilitated chats: topics to be announced during the event

Need a scholarship to attend? Limited need-based assistance is available. Please write schools@usgbc.org to let us know your circumstances and what assistance you need.

Thank you to our event sponsors

Summit Sponsor

Session Sponsors

General Sponsors