Island Park Elementary school achieves Level Two in the King County Green Schools Program

The Island Park Elementary School’s ‘Green Schools” team has announced that they have achieved Level Two in the King County Green Schools Program. The school will be officially recognized by King County in June when the names of all schools reaching any of the three levels are released.

Island Park reached Level One in 2009 after they successfully implemented a recycling and waste reduction program that has significantly reduced paper and food waste. Since then, the Green Schools team, along with a committed group of teachers and students called the Energy Patrol, has been working hard to save energy, the main criteria for Level Two status.

According to Island Park Principal Dr. Nancy Loorem, “Our Energy Patrol students have done a great job teaching each other about the importance of energy conservation. They remind all of us to turn off lights, computers and other electronics when they are not in use. They are becoming true energy-saving experts!”

The vision of the Green Schools program is to help all schools and school districts in King County practice resource conservation and to engage students and staff in environmental stewardship. Currently more than 400 schools and 11 school districts have received assistance from the program. In January 2011, the Mercer Island School District achieved Level One status. Since 2009, when the program first started on the Island, the district has reduced waste by more than 60%.