Are you a sustainability-minded parent, teacher, or high school student? Do you make an extra effort to ensure that your school and community is recycling, saving energy, and reducing its impact on the environment? Well then, we have an opportunity that might interest you!

APS is seeking parents, community members, and a few students to join the Superintendent’s Advisory Committee on Sustainability. The purpose of the committee is to provide recommendations to the Superintendent to achieve APS sustainability objectives. The committee works with staff from APS Facilities & Operations and the APS Science Program to propose and implement practical programs and policies. An important focus of the committee has been guiding the creation and implementation of the APS Sustainability Liaison program, which provides a stipend to a teacher in each of 20 schools, to create projects related to sustainability that benefit students and schools. Committee members support individual sustainability liaisons by connecting them with additional resources and promoting their work at APS and beyond. By assembling information from the sustainability liaisons and analyzing data that they provide about environmental practices at their schools, the committee promotes best practices and identifies areas for improvement throughout APS. For example, based on a sustainability liaison suggestion, the committee recently successfully recommended the establishment of a Custodial Worker Appreciation Day. We also worked with liaisons last year to do assessments that could lead to improved recycling and waste reduction rates at schools in the present and future.

Our collegial group of environmental professionals meets on the third Tuesday of each month at 7 pm. For more information, visit the committee’s webpage or email Cathy Lin with questions. If you would like to be considered for joining the committee, please complete the application form found here by October 30.