Welcome, Friends of Varina Schools!

Where children learn has a lot to do with how they learn. School systems across the country and here in Virginia are changing their approach to new schools to create the best possible learning environment while benefitting the community as a whole. Henrico County has the chance to join these leaders in education as it plans and constructs a desperately needed third high school.

High Performance—or “Green”—Schools are linked to increased student attendance and improved academic performance. The same design principles and building technologies that make green schools models of energy efficiency, reduced environmental impacts, and cost-savings can also make them places where kids stay healthier and do not have their learning hindered by noisy distractions and poor lighting.

The Environmental Protection Agency has found that the air inside buildings, including schools, may be two to five times as dirty as outdoor air. Green schools use heating, cooling, and ventilation systems that reduce contaminants and mold. The result is fewer infections and flare-ups for kids with asthma and other respiratory illnesses and a reduction in absenteeism.

Green schools maximize the use of natural daylight (lighting can account for 35 – 50% of a school’s energy consumption and cost). Daylight is the best light source for visual tasks (like reading from a textbook, studying diagrams, or seeing a teacher’s notes at the front of the classroom.) Studies have found a relationship between increased daylighting and rises in math and reading scores.

Schools can be noisy places. Outside sources like traffic are just a backdrop to the cacophony inside—band practice, the cafeteria during lunchtime, gym classes, and mechanical equipment rooms—and the reverberation of sound within classrooms. Particularly hard on the youngest students, the hearing impaired, or those learning English as their second language, bad acoustics make it hard for kids to concentrate and make stressful situations (like tests!) that much worse. Green design seeks to reduce all these distractions for a quiet environment ideal for teaching and learning.

Green schools also encourage learning outside the box—and the classroom. Renewable energy systems make for great science lessons and protected ecologically sensitive areas on the school site, such as wetlands or wildlife habitat, are ideal outdoor labs.

Does this sound like the kind of school you want your children to attend? I agree and as Varina District’s next School Board member I will prioritize bringing High Performance Schools to Henrico County.

John Montgomery

 

Paid for and authorized by John Montgomery.