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Green city, green school: Sarno backs push for funding

Nina, Michael and Jackie Orellana and their mother, Catherine Orellana, an ECOS teacher, were all in attendance at the March 6 School Committee public hearing to show their support for pursuing green grant funding for the center. Reminder Publications photo by Courtney Llewellyn
By Courtney Llewellyn

Reminder Assistant Editor



SPRINGFIELD Will ECOS be the first "green school" in the city of Springfield? A group of teachers at the Environmental Center for Our Schools (ECOS), the school district's environmental education science program, hope so and approached the School Committee on March 6 to show their support.

"This is huge," Burt Freedman, the spokesperson for the staff and a teacher at ECOS, said. "The ECOS program is based on environmental awareness and stewardship. Classes learn about people's affect on the environment. We need to have a facility that reflects these principles."

Located in the Clifford A. Phaneuf Environmental Center in Forest Park, ECOS offers classes for fourth through seventh graders on everything from habitats and changes in nature to winter survival and orienteering. First devised in 1969, ECOS opened in 1970 and was funded in part by a $500,000 federal grant.

The program began the same year that the world's first Earth Day took place. Over 100,000 students have attended the program since then.

The center was named after Phaneuf in 1988 because the Springfield educator was instrumental in the formation of the program. Known as "Springfield's father of environmental education," he served as the program's director for 17 years.

"Even though most of the classroom time takes place outdoors, in 'nature's classroom,' the ECOS building needs to be updated," Freedman stated in a release. "There is a perfect program that meets the needs of ECOS the Green School Program, a state program of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative [MTC], that offers grants and matching funds to school districts."

The MTC's Renewable Energy Trust is offering $15 million in grants to fund solar electric panels, wind turbines and other clean energy technologies as well as green building design and planning assistance, according to the MTC's Web site (www.masstech.org). The money will be available through the Green School Initiative as design and construction grants.

"Green schools are healthy and productive learning environments," MTC's Web site stated. "They are also cost-effective facilities that conserve energy and use renewable resources."

Freedman addressed the city's School Committee with support from over one dozen parents and students, asking that they support ECOS' drive to receive this funding.

"A substantial financial commitment must start the process," Freedman told the committee. "It makes sense for ECOS to apply for these funds. It makes good economic sense." He added that, on average, green schools save between 30 and 50 percent in their energy costs.

"We want to ensure the continuation of ECOS for future generations," Freedman continued. "[These funds will] create learning labs and create other opportunities to use the facility as a learning center year-round."

He asked the mayor's education team to pursue the availability of funds for the program and to "take some time and effort" to fully consider the possibility of making ECOS a green school.

"The parents and kids are the real stakeholders," Freedman said. "Let them catch a tadpole and light their hot dog on fire. Someone once said a budget is a statement of priorities. We need some help."

Mayor Domenic Sarno, who is pushing to make Springfield the hub of green in Massachusetts, replied to Freedman's statements.

"This initiative fits right into the green initiative for the city," Sarno said. "I went through ECOS. My daughters are going through it now. We want to move forward with this."

Those in attendance applauded Sarno's interest in funding the program.

"The program is a whole curricula developed around green technology," Freedman told Reminder Publications. "The educational possibilities are endless."

He added that in terms of jobs, green is a growth industry and what students are learning now at ECOS can be applied to many facets of their futures.

Michael Doran, a father of two sons who attend programs at ECOS, said he thought it was "very important" for Springfield schoolchildren to visit the center. "[That] is why it is very important for the city to turn the cabin on Porter Lake into a green building, so that when the fourth through seventh graders come down to Forest Park, they can be shown what a green building is, how it works and why green buildings are the future of architecture on a planet running out of resources and endangering the worldwide ecosystem with emission of greenhouse gases."

He continued that spending school days in a green building will show them that buildings like that "are not only good for the environment but nice places to live/work/learn/play in."

Doran said he thought ECOS was very valuable to his children's educations.

"ECOS is an essential part of the education of the children in Springfield's schools because they have no other chance to experience the outdoors as it exists in reality," Doran stated. "In many ways, I think this is more important than learning about the stages of development for the dragonfly or the food chain, though I am not trying to downplay their importance (especially since these are part of the science education they will be expected to know when they are subjected to national, state and local testing).

"But in terms of making them aware of the natural world, if they didn't have ECOS, they would only have a vague, abstract idea of what it is."

To learn more about ECOS, visit its Web site at sps.springfield.ma.us. Click on "General Information," then "Departments & Organizations" and then click on "ECOS."