Keeping in Touch
What are some ways to keep in touch with the school community about your school's eco-initiatives?

We have highlighted a few innovative examples of communication including an EcoSchools calendar sent by an EcoSchools board rep, an EcoSchools blog/website and bulletin boards in school hallways.

The Niagara Catholic District School Board EcoSchools Steering Committee sends monthly calendars by email to school EcoTeams to keep them on target for fulfilling the EcoSchools program. Calendars also suggest special events and tie into particular programs such as Waste Reduction Week. Lots of tips and ideas are included each month.

Shown above is the NCDSB February calendar. On the back of the calendar an EcoSchools Certification Supporting Documentation Checklist was added so EcoTeams could check the progress of their binders.

This month NCDSB is also sending out reminders about completing initial EcoReviews and what documentation should already be in the binders. NCDSB EcoSchools rep Elizabeth Davies is also offering to meet with EcoTeams if they would like some extra support. 

Download Word version of calendar

St Mike's, in the Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario, have taken their first steps toward becoming an EcoSchool and are blogging about it online! They have completed their initital EcoReview and began implementing their action plan January 6, 2009.

Check out their EcoSchools Update site to see how the EcoTeam is documenting St. Mike's transformation. The EcoTeam is working hard to to change the culture at the school to become more ecologically literate and to change behaviours to be more Eco friendly. 

The EcoTeam's intentions, including an action plan are posted on the blog/website, and a message to the school community is posted about the EcoSchools program as it relates to St. Mike's. Going forward, the EcoTeam will post updates on their progress and the school community is encouraged to post on the site.

In case you think a site like this involved too much work, St Mike's reported that the structure of their site was created fairly quickly - in the range of 1 or 2 hours. They used Wordpress, which they found did most of the work for them - except for the content of course!

Bulletin board displays in high traffic school hallways are an effective low-tech way to reach the school community.

Graphs and charts of data collected can depict energy conservation or waste minimization behaviour at school, or student opinions on environmental issues.  It’s important to keep the bulletin board up to date and reflect current activities around the school. Provide feedback and let the school community know that their efforts are noticed!   

Two grade 7 members of the St. Monica's Green Team were responsible for the "Green Man" bulletin board shown above for the 2007-2008 school year. "Green Man" was the St. Monica's Green Team mascot and the students updated the board every month so that "Green Man" could keep the school apprised on progress that had been made to conserve energy and decrease waste.

"Green Man" also offered suggestions of ways that the school could improve their efforts further and showed graphically the progress that was made including how the school compared to that same time last year. "Green Man" was also known to make appearances on the morning announcements!

Displaying the bulletin board in the center of the school served as a constant reminder of practices the school needed to do in order to be more energy efficient and environmentally-responsible. The graphs served as an indicator of what was being accomplished and fostered a sense of accountability in students and staff.  Green Man and his messages also provided encouragement, celebrating the school’s many achievements.  

The data collected was also useful for teachers to use as an exercise in graphical representation. Pie charts displayed on the board were given to the Green Team by one of the grade 6 classes. Surveys conducted by students were taken from resources developed by the board to support the EcoSchools program.
 
St. Monica's will be applying for EcoSchools certification again this year and we look forward to hearing about this year's communication efforts!