Ecopel seeks signatures for letter on environmentally sustainable Hutchinson School

Ecopel+seeks+signatures+for+letter+on+environmentally+sustainable+Hutchinson+School

Editor’s note: This announcement was made available on the Ecopel website.

Please Sign the Letter Below to encourage our BOE and Elected Officials that Sustainability is necessary as we build our schools and community for the future!
See link Below. Add your name in the comments below (on the Ecopel site) or email [email protected].

Dear Pelham Board of Education, New Hutchinson School Committee, Dr. Champ:

I am sending this on behalf of a group of Pelham residents. Please see our letter attached. We would greatly appreciate if you would share the letter with the New Hutchinson School Committee members, and with the new Hutchinson School design team.

We are writing to urge the Board of Education to ensure that the new Hutchinson Elementary School building is designed and built as a modern, sustainable, and energy efficient facility that meets, at a minimum, LEED Gold or equivalent standards. We were unable to attend last night’s community meeting, but hope to attend and discuss at the upcoming September 25th BOE meeting.

As citizens of the Town of Pelham and parents of children attending school in the Pelham School District, we believe that the District has a once in a generation opportunity to demonstrate its commitment, to students and the community, by doing its part to maintain a healthy environment and to address the increasingly urgent climate change and sustainability crisis.

We urge the Board to aim for a net-zero emissions design which also moves the district toward a zero-waste future, eliminating waste from the cafeteria by including dishwashers to enable reusable dishes and utensils, as well as food scrap composting.

We believe it is critically important that the District participate in the sustainability revolution. Doing so would not only allow the District to “walk the walk” in teaching our students environmental values; it would instill in them the pride in knowing that we can work together to address environmental problems. It would also save money — because minimizing energy usage reduces energy bills.

The new Hutchinson Elementary School will operate for the next 100 years. Our hope is that it will stand as a testament to the environmentally, educationally, and economically sound thinking of the current members of the Board of Education.

We urge you to think outside the box, to set an example for future building projects, to tap into all the support and resources available to Pelham through NYSERDA and other programs such as the Zero Energy Accelerator Program, and to strive to preserve the best future for our children by building a green, sustainable, Hutchinson Elementary School.

We look forward to continued discussion on the new Hutchinson Elementary School building and how best to ensure a healthy environment and sustainable future for Pelham’s children.

Sincerely,*

Elizabeth Braun
Kristen Burke
T.K. Chang
Amy Dunkin
Dr. Heather Eliezer
Melissa Eustace
Thomas Farley
Kevin Healy
Maryanne Joyce
Matt Kaplan
Aimee Linn
Rosemary Maggiore
Lindsay Preftakes
Anna Riehl
Mark Rookwood
Ariel Spira-Cohen
Thomas White