About Us

Welcome to the Broward County Public Schools (BCPS) Environmental Stewardship Website! This portal to “all things green” in BCPS represents a culmination of years of research and development. The environment has always been an important part of what we do in our schools. We never realized just how important until we began our data collection, and recognized a need for a single place to document the impact.

Led by Dr. Robert Parks, School Board member, with the unanimous support of the School Board of Broward County, District officials were directed to compile all of our efforts for the world to see. The result is the Environmental Stewardship Web Site you are currently exploring.

We are the nation's sixth largest - and largest fully-accredited - school district. Under the leadership of the Broward County School Board and Superintendent of Schools Robert W. Runcie we are "Educating Today's Students For Tomorrow's World".

We all know that Broward County Public Schools are going green... but what inspired this Eco-Revolution? Read our story below to find out!

Our Story

It all began in 2005 with one of the most intense storms ever recorded in the Atlantic Basin. Hurricane Wilma bore down on South Florida, devastating lives, ruining homes and making history as one of the top five costliest hurricanes ever recorded in the Atlantic. In addition to causing over $20 billion in damages, Wilma uprooted a 60-foot Ficus tree in Broward County. Compared to the monumental damage, the fallen Ficus seems unimportant, but that tree had a major impact. The Ficus blocked the path of Dr. Robert D. Parks on his way to pick up supplies after the storm. The giant Ficus had been uprooted and thrown across the road, prompting the School Board member to ask “how could such a large tree be so easily ripped from the ground?”

The answer is simple: the Ficus is not native to Florida. Unlike native vegetation, this tree had not developed a sturdy root structure capable of withstanding hurricane-strength winds. Not only are non-natives incapable of standing up to a hurricane, but they can also harm native vegetation and disrupt the balance of natural Florida ecosystems.

Determined to avoid similar problems at BCPS, Dr. Parks introduced a Board item prohibiting planting non-native vegetation and received a unanimous 9-0 school board vote. This was the movement that inspired the BCPS Environmental Strategic Plan. Realizing the importance of being good environmental stewards he identified the need to develop an environmental plan that could be implemented district-wide and would consolidate the many environmental programs, training, competitions, and events, which impact the way 255,000 students in South Florida view the environment.

The BCPS Environmental Team

Who Are We?

To ensure that the implementation of the Environmental Stewardship Policy would be effective, a small team of educators, facility professionals, and technology specialists formed the Environmental Stewardship Policy Implementation Group. It became clear that the need was to unify the “Go Green” efforts already going on throughout the District, to find a way to share information and best practices and to celebrate achievements. It was decided that this could best be accomplished with a Web site devoted entirely to environmental stewardship.

The Policy Implementation Group along with additional technology specialists became the Environmental Web site Committee and has worked to develop this resource for you. The members of this committee include:

  • Nora Rupert, School Board Member
  • Diane M. Carr, Executive Director of Core Curriculum
  • Angela Coluzzi, Director of Network Integration
  • Dr. Jeanine M. Gendron, Director of Instructional Technology
  • Sally Han, Web Master/Systems Analyst
  • Edward Hineline, Director of Business Applications
  • Gary Hines, Environmental Resource Manager
  • Rebecca Malones, Teacher Trainer, Secondary Science
  • Shelley N. Meloni, Director of Planning & Design

Feel free to contact us with comments or questions. We are happy that you are taking the time to join us.

Going Forward

As directed by the Environmental Stewardship Policy #7014, The Environmental Technical Advisory Committee (ETAC) has been established. The ETAC Committee will provide technical information, status and timelines; make recommendations on environmental strategies, educational programs and pilot projects; recommend process and procedures; develop evaluation guidelines for the Superintendent’s District Environmental Oversight Committee’s approval and recommendation to the Broward County School Board.

Acknowledgements

We'd like to give special thanks to those members of the Environmental Stewardship Policy Implementation Group/Environmental Web site Committee for their dedication to building the Environmental Stewardship Web Site.

We'd like to give special acknowledgement to our partner, the Environmental PR Group for managing the web site development project.

And most importantly, a huge thanks to all of the staff, students, teachers and principals who submitted their information to the Environmental Stewardship Web site.

Broward County is a better place to live and learn green because of our environmentally aware community.

Links

Broward County Public Schools