CHPS Conference Showcases Sacramento Learning Center, New Criteria

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sustain-ability at schools was the focus of a two-day conference that was anchored by a tour of one of Californian’s newest environmentally friendly campuses.


The Green Tools for Healthy Schools conference, held in September by the Collaborative for High Performance Schools, featured workshops and charrettes, along with a tour of the CHPS-certified H. Allen Hight Learning Center.


The learning center combines 88,000 square feet for middle school students and 70,000 square feet for elementary school students in the Natomas neighborhood north of the city’s downtown area. It features several environmentally friendly components, including a green roof, solar tubes and recycled carpeting.


Natomas Unified School District, the district that operates the school, was one of four organizations honored with a CHPS Green Apple Award at the conference. The awards program was created last year to recognize organizations for their commitment to healthy, high-performing learning environments.


The school district and Chevron Energy Solutions were the winners of the Green Apple awards climate change category. Officials cited the learning center’s green roof as an example of a building design that reduces the impact on climate change.


Chevron received a climate change award for helping more than 80 school districts nationwide implement alternative energy systems to make their facilities more energy-efficient. The company is also working with San Jose Unified School District to design, build and maintain 5.5 megawatts of solar photovoltaic arrays.


The Department of Pesticide Regulation’s California Schools Integ-rated Pest Management received the Green Apple award for existing schools for its work on safe and effective pest control. The program was designed to minimize exposure to toxic chemicals, lowering the risks of pest management and improving the indoor and outdoor environment.


Program officials also work with school districts to implement policies and teach district coordinators about safe pest management principles and techniques. Approximately 70 percent of California school districts have been trained with the program.


The Green Apple award for high performance school policy was given to the Northeast Efficiency Partnership High Performance Schools Exchange for facilitating construction of sustainable schools.


The regional program is based in New England and works with school districts to encourage and support green design and construction through training and technical assistance. The exchange also offers a database of research and case studies of high-performance schools and collaborates with state and education departments to promote sustainable school construction.


The conference hosted several workshops including:


CHPS Update: 2009 Edition Criteria Changes Review. CHPS introduced new criteria for performance and operations for existing school buildings that assesses facility conditions and provides recommended improvements.


The criteria is split into four steps: Identify general areas for further investigation; determine the causes of the general problems identified in step one; identify solutions to the specific issues found in step two; and require that schools/districts have an action plan for improving performance.


Schools will be recognized for improvement over a baseline established during the first step. CHPS plans to launch a pilot program with a small group of California schools from April 2009 to June 2009, with a public release in January 2010.


High Performance School Policy, Reporting and Local Bond Bills: Stronger Together. Presenters outlined several considerations for the CHPS program, which is now used as a design standard by 30 school districts.


The program can help streamline building approaches to save time and money, while allowing districts to leverage vendors and suppliers, and standardize equipment and operations procedures.


Key internal and external players should be involved in policy development and a high-performance committee should be established, according to the presentation. Goals, cost impacts, eligibility for incentives and RFP/RFQ requirements should also be established.


To ensure that funding is available, high-performance components should be included with estimations for new construction and renovation. There is increased public support for environmental causes, which makes passing local bonds easier, according to presenters.