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Sustainable Jersey for Schools Certification Report

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This is the Sustainable Jersey for Schools Certification Report of Dickerson Elementary School (Morris), a Sustainable Jersey for Schools bronze certified applicant.

Dickerson Elementary School (Morris) was certified on August 13, 2017 with 160 points. Listed below is information regarding Dickerson Elementary School (Morris)’s Sustainable Jersey for Schools efforts and materials associated with the applicant’s certified actions.

Contact Information

The designated Sustainable Jersey for Schools contact for Dickerson Elementary School (Morris) is:

Name:Melissa Fair
Title/Position:Principal / Dickerson Green Team
Address:250 rt 24
chester, nj 07930
Phone:9088795313

Actions Implemented

Each approved action and supporting documentation for which Dickerson Elementary School (Morris) was approved for in 2017 appears below. Note: Standards for the actions below may have changed and the documentation listed may no longer satisfy requirements for that action.

  • Board Leadership & Planning

    District Sustainability Policy

    10 Points
    District

    Program Summary: The Chester School District’s Sustainability Policy was adopted by the Board of Education on January 23, 2017. This policy states that the school district will work to minimize environmental impacts while protecting current and future human health and well-being. The policy’s objectives are to protect students, staff, and the community from environmental harm by eliminating the use of potentially toxic and harmful substances, prepare students for the future by provide a high quality education that supports concepts and practices of environmental, social, and economic responsibility and sustainability, and preserve current and future resources by adopting practices in operations that balance environmental, social, and fiscal responsibility to protect and enhance the future quality of life. The policy states that the Board will incorporate sustainable goals into future strategic plans and will develop additional policies, practices and procedures that create a legacy of leadership in sustainability across all district schools. The policy is posted on our district website, was presented at staff meetings, shared with the union, shared with the town council and educational foundation, and a School Messenger blast email was sent to all parents/guardians when the policy was adopted so that all are informed about the efforts to make Chester a more sustainable school district. Thus far, the district has been able to establish a Green Team, other sustainable policies, purchase green cleaning supplies and equipment, and be a role model to our community as to how to make efforts in leading more sustainable lifestyles.

    School District Foundation

    10 Points
    School District

    Program Summary: The Educational Foundation of the Chesters (EFC) is a New Jersey not-for-profit corporation. Its mission is to enhance the quality and breadth of education in the schools by obtaining funds from a variety of sources to provide opportunities to develop and maintain innovative programs that will enrich the learning experiences of all Chester students. EFC has provided a number of programs for the district as listed at the following web link: http://chesteredf.weebly.com/grants.html

  • Climate Mitigation & Renewable Energy

    Buy Renewable Energy

    10 Points
    School District

    Program Summary: Our school district participates in the renewal energy product offered by ACES plus. The contract is valid from May 2015 to May 2017 and I have continued the program for 17-19. See attached program applications.

    Onsite Renewable Generation System - Solar

    10 Points
    School

    Program Summary: Dickerson Elementary School has been using solar electricity produced by its roof mounted, 70.18 kilowatt solar generating facility since the installation project was completed in 2013. The solar generation system accounts for 15.94% of the electricity Bragg used for the 2015-2016 school year, August 2015 through July 2016. This percentage qualifies Dickerson to receive 10 points for this action. This percentage was calculated from the kilowatt hours produced by the solar system, as provided by SunLight General Morris Solar, LLC, and the monthly invoiced from Jersey Central Power and Lighting which included the kilowatt hours the school had used form the company. Our solar generating facility aids the Chester School District in it’s quest to become a more sustainable district by using renewable energy to not only off put monies spent on electricity, but to also use a greener alternative to the traditional electricity. Having the school district use solar electricity, we are acting as a role-model for the remainder of the community, encouraging and teaching members about solar electricity and renewable options available to them to use in their own home. Students also engage in learning about the solar panels in their classrooms each year, especially on Earth Day. These solar generation systems not only aid the Chester School District’s sustainability, but allows us to inform community, members about renewable electricity to create a more sustainable community.

  • Diversity & Equity

    Accessible Communications

    10 Points
    School District

    Program Summary: The Chester School District provides accessible communications to all of the students and parents to ensure greater parent and student involvement in the Chester School District. The accessible communications are provided in many ways; through educational classes, website, mobile applications, interpreters, collaborating with community organizations and more. The Chester School District website and app give viewers the option to translate the page to one of 104 language options through a tab powered by Google Translate. PowerSchool operates in a similar manner, adjusting the language to fit the need of the viewer. All forms provided from the district are translated into the language that parents and guardians need. For conferences and meetings, Interpretalk is used. Interpretalk is a telephone translation service which pairs the caller with an interpreter of any language. Workshops are provided on using the website and app, as well as online registration. Project Literacy is hosted as an afterschool program by the Chester School District for all English Language Learners (ELL). ELL students are encouraged to participate in the annual science fair. Volunteers work with ELL students to ensure they are getting the best experience possible. Through partnership with a local Spanish Ministry, the Chester School District offers English classes to the Spanish speaking population of our community. The Chester Library collaborates with the school district, offering a mentoring program for students in the Chester School District and highly encouraging the ELL students to participate. This program pairs a Chester students with a mentor from either West Morris Central or West Morris Mendham, the local regional high schools in both a social and academic partnership, with many of the Chester School District teachers volunteering time to work with this program.

  • Food & Nutrition

    Promote Locally Grown Foods

    10 Points
    School District

    Program Summary: The Chester School District has a number of contracts with local food vendors for a variety of fruits and vegetables. Chester Township has a number of local orchards that provide the schools with fruits and vegetables when they are in season. One of our favorite vendors are our apple farms who provides the community with a large variety of apples in the fall. Local vendors also participate in our vendor show, the annual science fair (the largest in the northeast), and demonstrations for students and parents. Our district receives a wide variety of fruits and vegetables from vendors. This variety includes, but is not limited to: kale, basil, tomatoes, spinach, peppers, cabbage, squash, beets, lettuce, apples, mushrooms, potatoes, and eggplant. Throughout the year, the Chester School District receives 477 pounds of local produce. Local vendors participate in programs with the school which promote that our local farms supply our school with a generous amount of food. In October, the school hosted an “Apple a Day” program with local apple orchards to encourage students to eat more locally grown apples. Alstede Farm, located in Chester, NJ, participated in our annual science fair by presenting an agricultural award. Local farms also participated in our Food Show. Through our employee wellness program, our staff was encouraged to participate in a CSA (Community Supported Agricultural) Program with Stony Hill Farms located in Chester, NJ. This program provides members the opportunity to receive shares of the locally grown foods during the season each week.

  • Green Cleaning

    Green Cleaning Policy & Plan

    10 Points
    School District

    Program Summary: The Chester Board of Education encourages the use of environmentally preferable products and services. By including environmental considerations in purchasing decisions, the district can reduce its environmental footprint and promote practices that improve human health, conserve natural resources, and reward environmentally conscious manufacturers. School district personnel are encouraged to actively seek out environmentally preferable products and services for use in day-to-day operations when quality, performance, price, and functionality are comparable to their non-environmentally preferable counterparts A copy of the Green Cleaning Policy and Plan for the District as well as the Green & Healthy Cleaning Policy are provided which were all adopted 1/2017.

    Green Cleaning Supplies

    10 Points
    School District

    Program Summary: In compliance with Sustainable Jersey, the Chester Township Board of Education implemented the "Green School Initiative" which shows the districts commitments and efforts in establishing a safe working and learning environment for all personal and students. The green cleaning supplies allow us to avoid toxic fumes in the air as we head on our way to becoming an asthma friendly school. In the long run this will help benefit the overall air quality of the school and the health of the children. A list of the products is included in the attachment.

    Green Cleaning Equipment

    10 Points
    School District

    Program Summary: The Chester School District has been purchasing Certified green Cleaning Equipment whenever possible in the last 36 months. The district has purchased upright vacuums, backpack vacuums, a carpet extractor, and motorized floor scrubbers, all of which have been Green Certified. Making these green purchases will allow for the Chester School District to improve the cleanliness of the buildings, as well as use equipment that will aid in our quest to be a more sustainable school district. These Green purchases will make for a healthier, greener environment for our students and staff to learn and work in everyday.

    Green Cleaning Training & Education Programs

    10 Points
    School District

    Program Summary: The District provides training to all custodial personnel through the EnvironSolutions and ATRA Janatorial Supply Company. All three schools within the District achieved recognition for its efforts for using UL Ecologo Certified products which are rated for their reduced human and aquatic toxicity and reduced smog potential. The custodial staff received training and certificates for proper restroom cleaning and disinfection protocol using the products as presented in the school certificates. A total of 16 custodial staff was in attendance for the 2 hour course.

  • Green Purchasing

    Green Purchasing Policy

    10 Points
    Bronze Priority Silver Priority District

    Program Summary: The Chester School District has adopted a green purchasing policy that is in line with efforts to continue the sustainability practices already in place throughout the district. The school Business Administrator has also had training as the purchasing agent to advance these efforts. The board policy, adopted on January 23, 3017, ensures that all of the products purchased by the Chester School District are environmentally friendly. This policy helps to reduce the district's environmental footprint and promote practices that improve human health, and conserve natural resources. Personnel are encouraged to use environmentally friendly products for their daily operations, especially when their quality, performance, price, and functionality are comparable to their non-eco friendly counterparts.

  • Learning Environment

    Student Participation in the Arts

    10 Points
    District

    Program Summary: All students participate in the arts through the school day and have the opportunity to participate again in before and after school offerings through both school run clubs and our enrichment partner, Morris County Arts Workshop. All students in the Chester School District are given the opportunities to participate in both visual and performing arts classes, attending each once a week during the school year. Music and visual arts classes are taught by teachers certified in the subject area. Students are encouraged to become creative and use those spaces to learn to new skills and to learn about different elements of the arts. By having these classes for students, we are enabling them to find new hobbies, develop new skills, and learn about the arts. These classes have had a positive impact on the community. Music classes offer the community time to come together for concerts throughout the school year, and art classes offer the same impact with gallery nights. These classes enable the community to come together and impacts students positively with the skills and creativity they find in these classes.

  • Student & Community Outreach

    Green Team

    10 Points
    Bronze Required Silver Required School District

    Program Summary: The Chester School District was established on December 18, 2016. SInce its establishment, the team has met a total of 4 times, has completed projects, and set goals both for the past school year and upcoming school year, as described in the Annual Report. This team is made of up individuals from all schools, the Chester Board of Education, the Board of Education Office, and the Chester Community. Thus far, the team has eliminated paper for payroll. In order to accomplish this, the team worked to find a program that worked for our district’s needs and worked to transfer information from the old system into the new one. Similar steps were taken to make Purchase Orders for our district paperless. The team also worked with the Black River Middle School Environmental Club to host an electronics drive for the Chester Community. This was done by guiding the students to finding how to create the drive and successfully completing the drive. These were just a few examples of the projects undertaken by the Green Team since its establishment in December 2016. The Green Team has great plans for the upcoming school year which include a Wellness fair, a reusable water bottle initiative, green products used in food service, and increasing the staff wellness program.

    Community Education & Outreach

    10 Points
    Bronze Priority Silver Priority School

    Program Summary: The Chester School District hosts one of the largest science fairs in New Jersey. This year’s fair was held on March 4, 2017. The science fair is open to students in grades 1-8 in the Chester school district and allow them to create a project that encourages them to dig deeper into a specific area of science; including sustainability, energy, life science, and more. There were more than 2,000 participants and spectators who visited the fair this year. Local community and NJ corporations are given the opportunity to participate as fair sponsors. The fair holds exhibits each year that feature all areas of science, many involving the environment and sustainability. Local newspapers and the Chester Science Fair website publicize the event. Hosting the science fair allows for students to learn hands-on about sustainable living and gives the Chester community the ability to be educated on sustainability. The Chester School District and Sodexo, the district cafeteria company, organized an event called the “Chester District Food Show” on May 4, 2016. This event was open to students, parents, staff, and community members and allowed guests to sample healthy school lunches from a variety of vendors. The Food Show gave parents and students the opportunity to watch demonstrations of the food that they sampled and engaged children in “cooking” activities which taught them how to build a healthy lunch. In addition, the event also held a presentation called, “What’s a Lunch?,” hosted by Amy Krehely, a registered dietician. This presentation showed guests what a well-balanced meal looks like and went over the “MyPlate” guidelines. The event was publicized through flyers, postings on the district website, and the seasonal Sodexo Newsletter. Hosting an event like this allowed for the School District and surrounding community to learn about leading healthy, sustainable, lifestyles. http://www.chestersciencefair.org/?l1=3&l2=0&l3=0&l4=0&l5=0

  • Student and Staff Wellness

    Staff Wellness Program

    10 Points
    School District

    Program Summary: The Chester Board of Education is drawing out plans to create an Employee Wellness Program in their District. The goal of this program is to provide our staff members with health and wellness education while helping local businesses profit from the experience. Chester’s community is rich in farms, local markets, and exercise studios. By teaming up with these types of local businesses we plan to keep our staff and their families healthy and fit. The Chester Board of Education is also planning on making the program a “point based” system. Whereas, the employee would be encouraged to achieve points by attending seminars we plan on hosting throughout the year, shopping at stores that have teamed up with our District, or participating in a variety of other activities we plan on creating; such as blogs, school cookbooks, and more. Ultimately, the Chester Board of Education wishes to implement an Employee Wellness Program to have a healthy and fit staff, which in turn will assist in lowering the cost of health insurance if we can help lower the risk of certain health related diseases; such as, diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and more. Dean’s Market Discount: Started 1/9/17 Employee Wellness Plan Introduction: 1/6/17 – Included Horizon’s Be Fit gym reimbursement announcement.