Grand View receives Green Ribbon Award

By Jack Allen
Staff Writer

The United States Department of Education will present Grand View Elementary School of Manhattan Beach Unified School District with the newly-created Green Ribbon Award on June 3 in Washington, D.C.

Grand View is now one of the 78 schools in the nation chosen to bear the title of “National Green Ribbon School.” According to the U.S. Department of Education website, the award is given to schools that save costs and energy while maintaining health and providing an environmentally-friendly education.

“To be in the top .0003% of schools is amazing,” Grand View Principal Rhonda Steinberg said. “We are one of the greenest schools in the United States.”

According to Steinberg, the push toward becoming “green” started in 2007 when four parents talked to Steinberg about the prospect of teaching students and parents to become environmentally friendly.

“They brought big ideas and I helped scale them down to make them workable and reasonable to work in an elementary school setting,” Steinberg said.

Much has changed since 2007. The Gators now have instituted 38 programs dedicated to protecting and educating themselves about the environment.

Roughly 80% of Grand View students participate in the “Walking School Bus,” which so far has saved over 22,000 pounds of carbon emissions. The program started as “Walk to School Wednesdays” and has grown into an everyday activity.

Another effort to reduce emissions is the “No Idle Zone” for parents picking up their children. If parents are sitting in a place for more than 10 seconds, they must turn off their engine and if someone forgets, there are banners strung up as a reminder.

Some students also participate in Earth Club, which is a group dedicated to preserving Grand View’s campus environment as well as that of the community’s. Every year, a fifth grader is elected as the Grandview student body “Grades of Green” representative in Student Council.

“Earth Club greatly helped us become a Green Ribbon school,” Grandview science specialist and Earth Club advisor Tanya Sanchez said. “At Grand View, we are constantly pushing toward environmental progress. We have an extremely motivated group.”