Pine Jog Elementary- The First Green School is in Greenacres Florida. In fact, Pine Jog Elementary is the only school in the whole country that shares a campus with an environmental center and a public university, Florida Atlantic University.
There are a lot of firsts for this school. It is the first school in Florida to be certified by the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system. There are ONLY 32 K-12 school buildings that are certified in all of the United States and Canada. Points gathered for different construction building and design components make up a score. You need to earn a certain amount of points in order to earn the certification. I went by to take photos of the school and it is not quite finished. But here are some photos anyways.
The Palm Beach County school district is using about 36 different 'green' elements. Some of the things they are incorporating are:
- Rainwater harvesting
- Low- maintenance polished concrete floors
- "Light shelves" : these are installed outside of the windows and bounces sunlight into the rooms so you don't have to use the lights all the time.
- There is preferred parking for teachers with hybrids right in front of the school
- Classrooms are all made of recycled materials
- Paint is all non toxic and hypoallergenic, so are the sealants and adhesives
- The cleaning products are all natural and non toxic
- A storm water retention pond on the environmental trails
- Nature trails
- Building materials were bought from regional suppliers to reduce energy in transportation
- They preserved many of the trees during construction
- Motion sensor controls to reduce lighting waste
- Outdoor teaching areas
- Waterless urinals
FAU will be using this campus for their environmental graduate programs and the Pine Jog Environmental Education Center is a great place to take your kids to do eco friendly classes and trail walks and much more. The district will be turning the elementary school part into a magnet program because it is so unique.
This August will be the grand opening of Pine Jog Elementary school in Greenacres Florida. The school is located at 6325 Summit Blvd in Greenacres Florida 33415 and their phone number 561-656-5400 and the website address is http://www.edline.net/pages/pinejogelementaryschool. The hours will be 8:15 a.m. o 2:20 p.m.
For some great eco tips for back to school read my post here.
One last note: This school was built out of free choice to build it. No one said we had to build it. No one mandated to the school board what school to build. No laws were enacted to make sure this school was built. No one dictated this to us. It is an example of when allowing people to make their own decisions, they will inevitably make good choices.
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Disclaimer:The information provided herein is supplied by several sources and is subject to change without notice. Wellington Homes Blog does not guarantee or is any way responsible for its accuracy, and provides said information without warranties of any kind, either express or implied. Entries on Wellington Homes Blog represent the opinions and ideas of the author(s). Wellington Homes Blog does not express the views of International Properties and Investments, Inc or those of the broker.
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Copyright © 2008 By Katerina Gasset, All Rights Reserved.* Pine Jog Elementary- The First Green School is in Greenacres Florida- A lot of Firsts! *
Nestor Gasset and Katerina Gasset- Realtors®, CIPS, ABR, SFR, GRI, REOS
I see a gold star in your future, Katerina... Great information about a very interesting school!
Katerina - some of this is good - some REALLY bad and of course the thing that concerns me the most is exactly what they will be teaching the kids about man-made climate change (which of course does not exist). So let's look at the list.
Margaret- Thank you! Localism posts are begining to shine more around AR:)
Simon- What I really wanted to point out is this was not mandated to do by any bill or law. This is the result of free will of the parents, the university, the nature center which was already there and the parents in the community. I want people to know that we can do things that make sense in helping the environment by choice not mandate.
I know that global warming is a hoax-and I would never ever send any of my kids to a public school, period, end of story. I am an activist for homeschool.
I don't know enough about polished concrete except that we have a stamped concret driveway and we painted it with a non skid polish that works great.
Natural cleaners are actually less expensive. I am all about non toxic chemicals being used around children especially. The toxic fumes from cleaners in schools cause all kinds of breathing problems, asthma, allergies, and toxic systems which cause disease later in life. I do not allow any chemicals in my home. I use vinegar and baking soda, which are cheaper than any cleaner on the market.
Non toxic hypo allergenic paint is not cheaper. But I think that the price will come down as more people begin to buy it. But more than that, for the same reason I would never allow oil based paints in or around my home. They are very poisonous. They cause allergies and asthma. I would be willing to pay more for prevention than the expense of treating symptons.
I have read some about these waterless urinals. I think it sounds gross. I do not know a lot about them.
The outdoor teaching areas are mostly for spring, and winter programs. It is much cooler down here than in Orlando. We have the ocean breeze and we do a lot more out doors here from October to May.
I looked at the windows today and that description above does not really sound right and it is hard to explain. There is a barrier and the light reflects, I don't see this as becoming too hot. it is like a bouncing thing more, and there is an angle. I will do some more research about these. We have hurricane imact glass in our home.
Thanks for your thoughtful feedback.
I think this is great news that they are at least trying to improve! I need to check and see if the new schools being built here are "green".
Pam- at least get the toxins out of the schools . Thank you for commenting.
Katerina - I have no problem with environmentally friendly actions. I just want to make sure they actually do some good and are not just bowing down at the altar of Al Gore (the hybrid car thing is a prime example of the latter). It was very informative though and I still don't want to know about the urinals!
Hi Katerina, Did you do this for the Eco August Challenge? This would be a good one. We have some LEED Certified schools here and the disciplinary actions are lower, mandated state test scores are higher...it's better all the way around.
Good Stuff!
oh, and the reason for the Hybrid cars, although disputed on how green they are, is so that there is a place to charge them I would assume. (since they get LEED credits for it) Not just to give them a better parking spot. :)
Let me know if you make this part of the contest...
Stephanie- I wrote a post about the wildlife center and Mary awarded me for sharing a great reason to live in Wellington. I don't know how to enter these two posts. Let me know.
Simon- I know you don't have a problem with it. And I certainly share many of the same concerns, especially the political ones and the far left anarchist type view points that command that we live the way they want us to live. I never did believe the hybrid was the answer and certainly thing that fuel cell is too expensive. As far as cars go, I have seen some amazingly awesome even race cars that are pure electric that can drive faster than a gas run car. The main thing is that we have choices and may choose the vehicles we want to drive because until Mercedes comes up with something better, I am NOT giving up my Mercedes:)
Simon- Let's face it, we are just in denial:) We are just upset that we did not think of all of this before Al Gore did so we could make the money instead of him, darn! :)
Katerina - someone said the hybrids are at the front so that they can plug in - on the community's dime? That doesn't seem right to me.
As for Al Gore, you are correct. I wrote a bog not that long ago calling him a genius and stating publicly that i wish I would have thought of it first. In the words of the man who created the weather channel - the greatest scam ever perpetrated on mankind. And Gore has made a fortune out of it.
I just love reading about this. Cutting edge ideas.
By the way, I see that you are in Florida, and so is our team. If you are ever seeking a team of realtors to handle one of your clients either in the GREAT TAMPA BAY AREA or ATLANTA, please keep us in mind. Take a look at the email we geneerally distribute to realtors regarding our referral business.
Best of luck to you.
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Dear Real Estate Friends: Take the guess work out of your job and visit the school ! It's amazing! In the meantime, here's a little helpful information:
1)The floors - not polished to make them slippery! And most children wear shoes with rubber soles!
2)Lighting - the glass isn't the kind they put in green houses! (see comment by realtor above)She's got it right. Energy costs were lower last year than other elementary schools. And the a/c is set at, I believe they said, 5 degrees higher than other schools.
3)Ten pages on preferred parking for hybrids - now that wouldn't be very "green" would it? There are no battery chargers. It's like an Employee of the Month perk. They're just closer to the building.These spots are also for those who carpool to work. I could text for pages about cost effectiveness there!
4)Recycled products/furniture in classrooms. Not only are they more comfortable and environmentally friendly but they had to come from companies within a 50 mile radius to cut down on energy used to transport them to the school ! Teachers have desks with recycled banana peels! Very cool-but not scratch n'sniff!
5) As a fellow taxpayer I appreciate your concern. I wonder -is it better to buy a new pair of $10.00 shoes every month or buy a more expensive pair in the beginnning that will last you the whole year? (or longer) It's about investment and sustainability.
6)Cleaning products? Taxpayers will sleep fine tonight.
7)The trees height and distance met hurricane and public school codes.
8)Lighting- Oh Mr. Conway - here's how it works: you walk in, lights go on and stay on, you leave the room, in less than five minutes they turn off. Kind of Star Trekky!
9)Outdoor classroom-YES, here's what you're missing-You're Homework! You should research the information BEFORE you comment on a property! It may be 93* outside but what moron stands in direct sunlight outside (unless there's a purpose). Remember the comment you made earlier about THE TREES! The property is covered with 'em! The shaded areas were designed this way on purpose!
10)The waterless urinals didn't make it but they do have comodes that, well, it's UP for liquids and DOWN for solids. It's SCIENCE!
And on a final note, "man-made climate change doesn't exist"??? Please tell me you're kidding. Have you ever read about climate patterns over cities? And that's just the tip of the iceberg!
And remember: REDUCE your garbage, REUSE what ever you can, and RECYCLE glass, plastic, paper, foil juice bags, soda can pop tops, metals, and newspaper- Go Green!