Putnam Valley Central School District - Children's Environmental Literacy Foundation
Whole School Transformation

Putnam Valley Central School District

Overview

Putnam Valley's sustainability initiatives began with their energy infrastructure. As part of an energy performance contract with Consolidated Edison, their local energy company, the school district was installing a number of energy efficiency projects on several school campuses. The District worked with CELF to better integrate the sustainability changes to their physical plant with their curriculum to engage students in the transformation process. Now the District is on its way to implementing whole-school-change.

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Inspired and led by Superintendent Dr. Fran Wills’ vision of an environmental literacy legacy for the district, Putnam Valley CSD has taken significant steps to develop a culture of sustainability across its campus and throughout its curricula.

Through an extensive Energy Performance Contract with Con Edison Solutions, PVCSD is committed to reducing the energy consumption of its physical plant. The district engaged CELF to help teachers identify and create student learning opportunities connected to its campus sustainability initiatives as well as natural space assets.

In order to meet this overarching goal, CELF developed a professional development plan for a core group of PVCSD faculty. CELF educators have trained these teachers about Education for Sustainability (EfS) principles and pedagogy and provided curriculum and project design support to create a systemic approach to building environmental literacy through problem/project/place-based learning.

Project goals included:

  • Identify existing curricular connections to EfS, as well as gaps/opportunities to integrate new ones
  • Provide professional development in EfS principles and practices
  • Consult on curriculum and project design scaffolded to the natural assets of the PVCSD campus and surroundings, as well as the features of the district’s EPC energy projects
  • Establish an EfS learning community among project participants
  • Create a lasting legacy of an environmental and civic-minded school community with a deep connection to, stewardship and understanding of the natural world
  • Engages all school community stakeholders: teachers, administrators, facility managers, students, parents and the school board.

Watch CELF’s presentation to the PVCSD School Board

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