A globe attached to a homemade car toy sitting on a table with plants

Boston Public Schools Celebrates Earth Day and Efforts to Build a More Sustainable School District

As we celebrate Earth Day, Boston Public Schools acknowledges the critical role that the district plays in combating the climate crisis, which we know disproportionately impacts underserved communities.

Boston Public Schools Celebrates Earth Day and Efforts to Build a More Sustainable School District

As we celebrate Earth Day, Boston Public Schools (BPS) acknowledges the critical role that the district plays in combating the climate crisis, which we know disproportionately impacts underserved communities. BPS has been working for years to ensure our sustainability efforts help us reduce this impact on the students and families we serve.

Most recently, BPS received the 2024 Best of Green Schools Awards - District Award and 2023 U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon School District Sustainability Award. However, the work is not done.

“We know that we must support our students and help them become the climate action leaders that our communities need,” said Superintendent Mary Skipper. “I am committed to ensuring that our district is a model for how we teach our students about the importance of sustainability and climate. Our operational decisions and investments make Boston a national leader in many areas including facilities management, transportation, food and nutrition services, and teaching and learning.”

District Investments in Air and Water Quality

The district’s work includes the installation of 4,400 Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Sensors, which allows Facilities Management to monitor air quality and temperature inside and outside school buildings and share results on a public dashboard. The BPS IAQ Management Plan is being used as a model by other K-12 districts across the U.S., and our adopted standards are influencing state and federal policy and funding for IAQ in K-12 schools.

The district has also invested in the installation of filtered bottle refill stations in schools across the city to improve access to safe drinking water and move schools from single use water bottles. To date, nearly 750 filtered bottle refill stations have been installed in 84 schools through the BPS Drinking Water Access Initiative saving the district $485,000 annually in bottled water costs. The district is working to expand access, with more schools expected to have water stations installed in the coming years.

District Food Waste Collection Programs

Last school year, BPS Food and Nutrition Services partnered with the Facilities Department to expand the BPS Food Waste Collection Program and diverted approximately 250,000 pounds of food waste from landfills. This school year, the program will expand to include 10 additional school kitchens, bringing the total to 32 participating schools.

“BPS sustainability and climate action are rooted in our commitment to health and safety, equity, and community collaboration. Our work in academics and operations prioritizes a commitment to creating healthier, greener environments,” said BPS Assistant Director of Planning, Engineering, Sustainability, & Environment Katherine Walsh. “Our work also reflects the student voice - students rightfully demand investments in environmental education, green jobs, and sustainable environments, and are leading climate justice efforts.”

Outdoor Teaching and Learning

Our schoolyards are just as important as our indoor environments. BPS continues to invest in outdoor teaching and learning. Facilities Management partners with the Science, Technology, and Engineering Department to provide a Teaching and Learning Outdoors Champions Program for BPS teachers, with about 40 teachers enrolled, receiving support through Professional Development, materials budgets, and stipends. Many of the champions are also supported by our BPS garden partners.

Since the 2022-2023 school year, Facilities Management has invested $840,000 to install school garden programs at 60 schools. Over the three year period, these schools have received more than $2.6 million in raised bed garden programming and services from the garden partners, accounting for 180 teaching and learning hours weekly. Facilities Management also supports 38 outdoor classrooms and five school hydroponics programs.

“Sustainability and climate are intentionally integrated throughout our core science curriculum, helping all students connect their learning to the world around them,” said BPS K-12 Science, Technology, Engineering Program Director Nicole Guttenberg, PhD. “Our vision is to inspire students to understand, care about, and take action on the ways our lives and choices shape the climate and our shared future.”

School Climate and Sustainability Curriculums

Our sustainability and climate work is also taking shape at the school level, with schools like Boston Green Academy empowering students to be a key part of the transition to a greener, more just world by embedding sustainability into many aspects of the school experience, from the classroom curriculum, as well as beyond the school campus into the community. BGA aspires to make their sustainability and climate curriculum a whole school endeavor, not just something that students learn about in science or math classrooms. A winner of the 2019 U.S Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools Award, BGA continued to be a model green school in Boston and beyond.

"We know our students can be the next generation of green leaders, whether solving local issues or contributing to national solutions," said Boston Green Academy Head of School Matt Holzer. “The climate crisis impacts everyone, especially in urban areas like Boston, and we want our kids to have the skills and knowledge to make a difference.”

Additionally, BGA works to build key student skills through their Career and Technical Education (CTE) Program, which is the district’s only Environmental Science and Technology CTE program. The BGA CTE program annually sees about 25% of Grades 9-12 students participate in the program, which allows students to partner with industry leaders for internships and explore the career possibilities in this growing and important field. Upon completion of the BGA CTE program, students will also receive valuable industry-wide certifications that can open doors to employment and strengthen college applications.

"I never really cared about sustainability, even after all the sustainability this school has tried to push on me, one of my classes about Engineering and Green Physics kind of made me open up my eyes,” said Jaden Dominique, a Boston Green Academy Grade 12 Student. “When we were learning about the Upcycling project and although I didn't do well on it, it still showed me what's happening in the real world, and now, even though I'm hesitant, I'm even doing a sustainability internship that I never thought I would do."

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Learning Opportunities

This page will be updated regularly with information about learning opportunities for educators, families and students alike. Please be sure to visit this page often to keep your self informed on upcoming events and opportunities.

Webinars on Immigration

The Immigrant Learning Center: Immigrant Student Success Workshops
With a focus on providing college access for undocumented students, the University Leaders for Educational Access and Diversity (uLEAd) offers webinars for educators to increase their knowledge of relevant issues.

BPS Office of Social Emotional Learning and Wellness Trainings

The offerings for school year 2017-2018 will be coming soon.

During the last school year, the Office of Social Emotional Learning and Wellness offered the following professional learning opportunities to deepen our educators' knowledge on immigration and increase the understanding of how it affects our students.

Three Trainings for school staff, one at the SEL Forum on March 28 and two others between now and June.
Curriculum and Instructional Coaching to Schools:
- The Michigan Model for Health is a Comprehensive K-12 Health Education Curriculum available to BPS schools that includes Social Emotional Learning Units that address stress. The Michigan Model for Health: Skills for Health and Life comprehensive health education curriculum offers lessons in the following grades:
  - Grade 6: Stress Less: Many Ways to Handle Stress
  - Grade 7-8: Safe and Sound for Life: Social Emotional Health and Safety - many of the lessons in this binder are related to stress reduction techniques
  - High School: Social Emotional Health (Unit 2) has lessons on Self Awareness: A Key to Stress Management and What Teens Need to Know about Stress

For more information on using these resources in your classroom, please contact Suzanne Spressert, Health Education Instructional Coach, Health and Wellness Department at sspressert@bostonpublicschools.org.

District English Language Learners Advisory Committee (DELAC) Conference

In the School Year of 2015-2016, the Office of English Language Learners launched the District English Learner Advisory Committee (DELAC) initiative with the vision of creating a multicultural and multiethnic, parent-led committee comprised of EL parents and community members whose task is to provide recommendations to school and district officials in regards to programs and services provided to EL students. OELL hosts DELAC conferences during the academic year to provide parents, educators and community members with information on what our English Learner (EL) parents need to know to deepen and expand their knowledge.

Some workshop topics from previous conferences included DELAC Overview, EL Programmatic Options, Family Engagement Opportunities, BPS Budget, Tips for EL Families Navigating an IEP and Know Your Immigrant Rights. Interpretation services are provided for workshops designated for parents to ensure equitable access for all language groups, and translated copies of the agenda and handouts are also provided in district’s eight major languages.

For more information about upcoming conferences during the school year 2018-2019, please contact Ahmed Noor at anoor@bostonpublicschools.org.

Know Your Rights Workshops

The Office of English Language Learners is working with the Mayor's Office for Immigrant Advancement and the Political Asylum/Immigration Representation (PAIR) Project to provide Know Your Rights workshops for BPS schools. This workshop will inform families and staff of information regarding basic immigrants rights.

If you are interested in hosting a Know Your Rights workshop at your school, please contact Melody Soltani (msoltani@bostonpublicschools.org) for more information.

You may download the presentations in the following languages:
English Updated in January, 2018
Chinese (中文)
Haitian Creole (Kreyòl Ayisyen)
Portuguese (Português)
Spanish (Español) Updated in January, 2018

Tech Goes Home Workshops

OELL hosts Tech Goes Home (TGH) workshops for our BPS EL parents/caregivers and families. Parents and families have the opportunity to participate in a 15-hour workshop to learn 21st century skills that helps them to support their child’s education in one of the languages offered (Cape Verdean Creole, Chinese, Haitian Creole, Somali, Spanish and Vietnamese). The workshop covers topics such as how to track your child’s school bus, grade and attendance online, how to communicate with teachers and counselors through emails and how to search for web-based family resources. Upon completion of the training, participating families are offered the option to purchase a brand new Chromebook computer at a low price. OELL also assists families offset the cost of the computer that they are eligible to purchase through TGH, and a graduation ceremony is hosted at the end of the workshop to celebrate and honor the participants who completed the training.

Contact Us

If you or any family need additional information or technical support please contact
Melody Soltani or Ahmed Noor in the Office of English Learners
at (617)635-9435 or email ellparentteam@bostonpublicschools.org.

Boston Public Schools
Office of English Learners
2300 Washington Street, Boston MA 02119
www.bostonpublicschools.org/ell

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