DNRP > SWD > Education & Schools Assistance > Green Schools Program > Success Stories > Snoqualmie Elementary

Success Story: Snoqualmie Elementary

School District: Snoqualmie Valley

School Location: Snoqualmie, Washington

Began participating in the Green Schools Program: March 2007

Waste Reduction and Recycling

• Recycling containers provided by the King County Green Schools Program were added to the lunchroom for plastic bottles, aluminum cans, milk cartons and juice boxes.
• School staff placed recycling stickers on all recycling containers. Provided by the King County Green Schools Program, the stickers list what can and can’t be recycled.
• Kitchen staff began recycling steel cans.
• Teachers Bill Hayden, Jennifer Greenough, and Dana Nohavec along with Principal Cori Pflug, PTSA President Jacque Gardner and parent Geoff Doy coordinate weekly “Green Team” meetings where they plan next steps for their comprehensive “Earth Friendly” project. Since the school started to participate in the King County Green Schools Program, the team has:
• Organized an all-school assembly to rally students
• Organized classroom Green Teams to take turns emptying recycling bins
• Placed waste and recycling containers at key areas on school grounds, with the help of district groundskeepers
• Acquired a worm bin from King County for composting lunchroom waste starting in the fall of 2007
• Organized students to make posters and monitor the new milk carton recycling program in the lunchroom
• Initiated “Waste Free Wednesdays” and saw a dramatic decrease in garbage volume on those days
• Made a presentation to the school board about the school’s waste reduction and recycling improvements
• Worked with staff and parents to raise awareness about the need for consistent and continuous practice with recycling efforts
• Met with representatives from Chief Kanim Middle School, also in the Snoqualmie Valley School District, to help them start a Green School plan

Thanks to the tremendous energy, work and example of staff, students and active parents at Snoqualmie Elementary, two other Snoqualmie Valley schools - Chief Kanim Middle School and Cascade View Elementary - have begun to participate in the Green Schools Program.

Efforts planned for the 2007-08 school year

Snoqualmie Elementary School will continue to work on:

• Reducing lunchroom food waste
• Reducing litter
• Using the wetlands on school grounds for environmental education

Awards

Terry Husseman Sustainable Schools Award (external)

Comments

“Thanks for all of your help.  Our recycling program is off to a great start!” – Jennifer Greenough, teacher, Snoqualmie Elementary School

“After the Wednesday no trash day, my daughter and a friend started a club called Making It a Better World Club….It’s fabulous that the recycling program has gotten these first graders thinking of ways they can make a difference.  Thanks to everyone who is supporting this program.” – Deborah Doy, Snoqualmie Elementary School parent

“We have it started, clearly, and the strongest indicator is in our kids' enthusiastic participation. They are young yet, and they can learn by practicing good habits. Our major challenge at this time is to get this program to be sustainable. What I want to work toward is to continue to have a team, a green team, made up of highly motivated people - teachers, parents, students, principal, custodians and county liaison.” – Bill Hayden, teacher, Snoqualmie Elementary School

For more information about this school’s participation in the King County Green Schools Program, call the school directly at 425-831-8050 or contact:

Cori Pflug, principal
pflugc@svsd410.org

Bill Hayden, teacher
haydenw@svsd410.org

Jennifer Greenough, teacher
greenoughj@svsd410.org

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