Rachel GutterDirector, Center for Green Schools
Today, the Center for Green Schools at USGBC launched the Green Classroom Professional Certificate, an online course and evaluation designed to educate teachers, principals, administrators and other school staff – like nurses and custodians – on what they themselves can do to improve their current instructional environments. This is the first professional designation USGBC has ever offered to non-green building practitioners, making the basic principles of healthy, high performance operations and maintenance accessible to school building occupants.
The course is packed with practical suggestions and solutions like “what are the three questions you should ask your custodian or building manager about where fresh air comes in and stale air goes out of the classroom,” or why it may not be a good idea to purchase an air freshener to cover up that funky mold smell (because that can actually keep us from identifying the problem). And this course focuses heavily on small steps that classroom leaders can take, rather than technical green building information, making it applicable to virtually anyone interested in improving their educational environment.
