When was the Green Team founded and how is it connected to the DOE Office of Sustainability?

The NYC Office of Sustainability (NYCOS) requires each school to have a sustainability coordinator. Mr. Bradley volunteered to take over this position at The Scholars’ Academy. (Please note that most people don't want this responsibility on their shoulders). Sustainability coordinators are offered professional development and a mentor. Mr. Bradley took everything that NYCOS offered him.

As part of his professional development, he was encouraged to build teams and structures within his school. The Green Team (GT) was the start of this. The GT was officially founded in Sep. of 2017.

The NYCOS then continue to offer training, grants, networking events, and general support.

“The NYC Office of Sustainability is outstanding!!!” says Mr. Bradley.

How difficult was it to start (ex. recycling culture, getting materials, funding, etc.)?

Start: Right from the beginning, starting a sustainability program was very easy. Scholars' administration support was part this success. Founding Principal Mr. O’Connell was super supportive of this new program. Aside from that, Mr. Bradley’s work aligned very nicely with the development of the Scholars' STEAM program. Mrs. Smyth, current principal, assigned a program that was 50% Sustainability classes. Due to this fact, Mr. Bradley taught every 6th grade class, two periods a week, sustainability.

Funding: In the beginning, the school administration paid for the recycling materials (including tilt trucks, the colored bins, a shed). Then, the Office of Sustainability awarded the school a $5K grant each year. In addition to that, the school’s Parent Association allows Mr. Bradley to use some of the money assigned for science. Since money is always needed, “I am constantly applying for grants,” says Mr. Bradley.

Recycling Culture: Starting a new recycling culture at Scholars’ was very pleasurable and rewarding. The staff and students welcomed a recycling culture with open arms. Before the pandemic, the Green Team was having clean streams of recycling in every classroom and office, and their dining room.

The systems already in place in their school and their school culture made the Green Team work easier.

How did the pandemic affect the program and how the GT faced those challenges?

Things were running smoothly. But then, the GT had to face major challenges. As soon as Covid broke out, the Green Team stopped composting and recycling, for health and safety related reasons. After a year of stressing pause, the Green Team have partially started their composting again but they currently don't recycle.

The GT also stopped all gardening work. It set them back for sure. But it has forced them to examine other avenues. “We now have a GT leadership team and monthly meetings for our full GT” says Mr. Bradley. “We have had guest speakers and an average attendance of about 25 students at each meeting (50 when we were fully remote)” he continues. “We have a very hard working and skilled webmaster in our team. Our website looks amazing! We have also been producing GT videos to document our work and educate our team, you can view these videos on our Vimeo Showcase”.

The Green Team have also strengthened their partnership with the Waterside School. The Scholars’ Green Team won a grant and it paid for the Waterside School to have a high end compost system installed. When students return to school in Sep., Scholars’ GT students will train their students on how to compost. This will allow the Waterside students to join the Scholars’ GT meetings via Zoom.

What are the current and future goals of the GT?

When asked about the current and future goals of the Green Team, Mr. Bradley expressed that he does too much of the work. “I am the only person who knows the details of each of our programs,” says Mr. Bradley. “Our GT is too reliant on me. This is not boosting, it is not a good thing.”

For this reason, his number one goal is to find parents and staff members who will learn the systems. And also get more HS students actively involved since Scholars’ HS student participation is very low. However, there is some light at the end of the tunnel. This will be the first year where long-standing GT members will be entering HS, Mr. Bradley hopes that the transition of these students from MS to HS will increase involvement.

“With more HS involvement, I can train them on how our systems work and they can pass it on,” says Mr. Bradley. “Older students are needed.”