Environmental Sustainability Update | A2Schools Podcast | Week of April 17, 2023

In this week's podcast, Dr. Swift and Andrew Cluley talk with Emile Lauzzana, Executive Director Environmental Sustainability.

With Earth Day coming up this weekend, we discuss the latest on the Ann Arbor Public Schools environmental efforts. This includes a discussion of the Greenhouse Gas Inventory the district has recently completed and what it will mean for the district going forward. We also talk about some of the work student environmental groups have done this school year.

In AAPS good news we celebrate National Volunteer Week, thank you for all of the wonderful volunteers that make a difference for students across the AAPS.

Transcript

:05

Andrew Cluley

Welcome to the A2 Schools Podcast. I'm your host, Andrew Cluley, the Director of Communications for the Ann Arbor Public Schools. And I'm joined today, our Superintendent, Dr. Swift. Thanks for being here.

:14

Jeanice Swift

Good afternoon, Andrew.

:16

Andrew Cluley

And we also have with us Emile Lauzzana. He's the Executive Director of Environmental Sustainability.

:22

Emile Lauzzana

Good afternoon. Great to be here.

:24

Andrew Cluley

So, this weekend, of course, we're going to be celebrating Earth Day. So, we thought that we would sort of turn our attention to some of the environmental activities going on in the Ann Arbor Public Schools. That's why Emile is here. But before we get there, I do want to encourage everyone to participate in the Listen and Learn tour that we have going on right now.

:45

Andrew Cluley

Last week you should have received an email with a link to a ThoughtExchange. If you want to participate remotely, you can do so at any time. Put in some thoughts, look at some of the other thoughts and rate them. You can also, if you go to our web site a2schools.org/ListenLearn, you will find the link to the ThoughtExchange there.

1:09

Andrew Cluley

But you're also can find out some more information. We're going to be updating it as we have some of the in-person events scheduled. We'll be putting them in in that location. So, I just want to make sure that everyone gets a chance to participate, share their thoughts. Let us know what Ann Arbor Public Schools is doing well in your mind and what areas you think we need to have some improvement on.

1:29

Jeanice Swift

You know, Andrew, I really appreciate you raising this, reminder, refresher for all of our listeners. We really value the input from our students and staff, our parents and families and community. You know, no one knows better what we do well and where are the areas of focus for improvement than those who live and work and bring their children to attend school every day.

1:59

Jeanice Swift

So, we invite you to join us. We'll be going now through from mid-April to the end of May on this on this endeavor to hear directly from folks who know us best. Thank you.

2:16

Andrew Cluley

And when we talk about what we know that our community values, we do know that the environment is right up there at the top of the list for so many people and Earth Day is such a big event. Obviously, the historical roots here to Ann Arbor. And just what do you see as the importance of the environmental movement and the Ann Arbor Public Schools?

2:40

Jeanice Swift

Andrew, I so appreciate that care for Planet Earth, the environment and climate, and sustainability, there not just words in Ann Arbor, we really do have not only deep roots, but we have inspiring students who are driving that work alongside us. You know, over this past year, we've published and Emile is here with us today. We published this Ann Arbor Public Schools Environmental Framework.

3:11

Jeanice Swift

It's really our work is really captured in three areas. First, our primary role in being educators of the environment, educators of children around the environment and ensuring climate literacy. That is probably the most impactful ability that we have as an organization committed to educating our children in this community. Secondly, a focus on healthy and sustainable school campuses, and thanks to the support of our community and our capital program investments, we have tremendous opportunity to really live that value through the remodel and reconstruction and really recommitment around our school infrastructure.

4:04

Jeanice Swift

And then finally, that commitment to be a model in our operations, our maintenance, our construction, to be a model of environmental sustainability. So, I'm really proud of this framework. And yet what matters most is the work we do every day. I'm glad we have a roadmap, but let's talk about what we're doing.

4:30

Andrew Cluley

That's right. I'm guessing Emile, that for you every day is Earth Day. Since you're our Executive Director of Environmental Sustainability.

4:38

Emile Lauzzana

That's right. But, you know, it's great to have a focus, especially in spring. You know, it's a little bit not so warm today, but we've had some nice days. And so, it's a great time of year to just reflect on what we've been doing and share with our community our progress and, you know, our vision and next steps around environmental sustainability.

4:56

Andrew Cluley

When we talk about the activities and what not. I know that Emile, that we have just recently completed, a greenhouse gas inventory. It sounds really impressive, but can you give me a clue what exactly it means and what we're going to be able to do with it?

5:13

Emile Lauzzana

Sure. One of our commitments in the environmental sustainability framework was to enhance our reporting to our district leadership and to our community and one of the great ways that we're able to do that is by publishing our first ever greenhouse gas inventory at the school district. This goes back to baseline year of our fiscal year 2010. We've been able to gather lots and lots of natural gas bills, electricity bills, water bills, all of this and calculate the associated carbon emissions with a lot of that and then kind of see how we're doing over time.

5:49

Emile Lauzzana

So, for instance, we see that the fuel efficiency of our busses has increased greatly over the last period of time back to 2010 from about five and a half miles per gallon to now nearly eight miles per gallon. And so that's seen a dramatic reduction in our fuel consumption, as well as moving to a two-tier bussing system has really reduced the number of total miles that we've traveled.

6:12

Emile Lauzzana

We also see some really interesting peaks and lows through the COVID times. We had our fiscal year 2021 from basically fall of 2020 through spring of 2021. We were not open very much. And so, we see lows on electricity and natural gas below. But then when we came back to school, we really wanted to have healthy environment. So, we ran the ventilation system more than we typically do.

6:43

Emile Lauzzana

Way above code minimum, so that we're changing the air, mitigating the COVID risk. So, then we see a spike in especially electricity, but also natural gas usage. But I'm pleased to report over this time we've seen since 2010 a 10% overall reduction in our greenhouse gas emissions at the school district and on a per student basis because we have added a few students, a 13% reduction and a 12% reduction per square foot because we've added some additional square footage.

7:13

Emile Lauzzana

So, we're making some progress, but we have a lot more work to do.

7:18

Jeanice Swift

So, you know, Emile, that's pretty exciting to see a reduction. I know many of us were tuned in to the increase of the air ventilation to ensure COVID mitigation, and really it helps with all kinds of viruses in the environment. And we know the number one request for our capital program a few years ago was climate control inside our buildings, because there's so many days that are very, very uncomfortably warm for students and they're learning, it's really inspiring to know that the steps we've taken in installing LED lighting and just a number of steps that overall we are reduced.

8:07

Jeanice Swift

Now, we've got a long way to go and a lot of work to do, but that's pretty exciting.

8:13

Emile Lauzzana

Yeah, it is exciting. And, you know, LED lighting is an awesome technology. Not only were we saving energy today, but the fixtures last a really long time. So, we don't have to do all of this relamping all the time with, you know, light bulbs going out. The old fluorescents would start flickering and all of that. That's all gone away.

8:32

Emile Lauzzana

A lot of the new lighting is dimmable, too. So, teachers can control the mood in the classroom. You know, turn it way up if there's testing or a focus point or maybe it's a quiet discussion time and bring the lighting down. So that really helps with the classroom environment, you know, and we and we've added a lot of solar and that's helping us also. 

8:53

Emile Lauzzana

With the Inflation Reduction Act now there are some really awesome incentives available and our public schools and all public agencies in the state and in the country where we can get a literally a 40% direct payment from the federal government reimbursing the cost of a solar system or a geothermal system. And so that's a significant catalyst for us to do more. And we see a return on investments in the order of eight years on a 25-to-30-year solar system.

9:23

Emile Lauzzana

So net, we might invest at a single school, $275,000 after we get the rebate. But over the first 20 years of that system, we're going to generate $800,000 worth of energy. And so, we're making this relatively small investment of $275,000 from our generous bond, from our wonderful community. And we're netting this huge windfall over time of offsetting our electricity costs.

9:52

Emile Lauzzana

So, I'm really excited about how that's going to support a lot of the bond work moving forward.

9:57

Jeanice Swift

Very exciting. Not only are we educators of students, but we also are modelers of that behavior as an organization. So, thank you for that.

10:08

Andrew Cluley

And I'm guessing that this greenhouse gas inventory can also serve as sort of a roadmap to, you know, where is it that we've had some successes and then where is it that we can look in the future to make some more growth going forward?

10:23

Emile Lauzzana

Absolutely. And, you know, you'll see in the in the report if you review it a school-by-school accounting of each electricity, natural gas and water year by year. And you can see certain years, certain schools go up and down, you know, and as we get better with our systems, we're going to when we we're going to be able to get in front of that quicker because a lot of times there'll be a water leak and it may not get detected for a little while.

10:51

Emile Lauzzana

And so that's going to drive it up at that location. Or there could be a piece of equipment that's running longer than it should. And, you know, as we improve our systems and really focus in on this as an area of importance, we'll get to that type of stuff quicker and drive further reductions.

11:10

Andrew Cluley

That's really exciting news. Now, I know also changing the speed just a little bit, but since COVID is, basically peak COVID has kind of gone away. A lot of the student groups that hadn't been actively doing things have gotten really ramped back up. And this school year seems like there's a lot of activity with them. And I'm guessing, that I know that the kids are very concerned about the environment, I'm guessing that we've got some great student groups that have been doing environmental work. Can you talk about some of those activities?

11:42

Emile Lauzzana

Yeah, there's a couple of standouts. You know, we have a Freeman Youth Council, which is a district wide high school environmental club, if you will. I mean, they've been real active. They were active during COVID. But now that they're able to meet in person, they're doing a lot more work. They've got a great and a tour they do with elementary students.

12:02

Emile Lauzzana

And one of the exciting things they did this year was that they did waste audits at some of the high school cafeteria. So literally, instead of just throwing your tray in the trash, they said, bring it over here. And they separated it into what was compostable, what was landfill, what was recyclable, to just kind of get a sense of, you know, what does that cafeteria waste stream look like?

12:24

Emile Lauzzana

Because we know roughly 70% of the waste at AAPS comes out of the cafeteria. And so that's a big area to understand better. And so, the Freeman Youth Council took that on as a challenge and really appreciate that work. We've also had a really rejuvenated solar club at Pioneer High School. They were able to work with some local partners at the 2030 District, Ann Arbor 2030 District and really dive into the eight solar systems that AAPS currently operates.

12:55

Emile Lauzzana

Do some analysis on the DTE bills and calculate roughly how much of an energy offset we're getting with those solar panels and how much of a monetary offset on a school-by-school basis. And that's a really exciting report that they were able to bring forward with that.

13:12

Jeanice Swift

It's so great. I really appreciate the involvement of our students and I, it looks like they've done quite a lot of math in this project. Yes? All right. So, I look forward to hearing more about their analysis.

13:28

Andrew Cluley

It's just really exciting to me. It's like it's a passion that they obviously have, but it's translating into real world valuable information that the district is going to be able to use. But also, they're going to be able to put on their resume that, you know, I when they go to, you know, apply to college or wherever they're going to go, like they will have done some really amazing work that will really translate into other things for them.

13:52

Jeanice Swift

Yes. And that informs our steps forward. I really am proud that these students, you know, it's a U of M phrase but leaders and best is what we're seeing out of these rock stars right now. Yeah.

14:07

Andrew Cluley

Well, that is some good news. And that brings us to the good news segment here on the A2 Schools Podcast. And this week, we're going to be celebrating a whole heck of a lot of people because it is National Volunteer Week. And so, we're going to celebrate it, and the good news segment, all of the volunteers that have helped out in the public schools this year and in previous years, Doctor Swift, just how important a role do volunteers play in the Ann Arbor Public Schools?

14:34

Jeanice Swift

You know, we have such a long tradition in Ann Arbor of folks in our community, even beyond parents and grandparents, community members who perhaps don't have children in the schools. Now, we have such a tradition of community engagement in our schools. Now, I'll tell you, it makes all the difference. So, whether that volunteer is helping out in a specific classroom or at an event or volunteering on our, I see groups out volunteering for clean-up days at school campuses.

15:15

Jeanice Swift

The investment of the work and the thinking of caring individuals in our community. It makes all the difference. You know, I ran into a volunteer the other day while I was out in school and she is a school's volunteer grandma, and she proudly announced to me when I walked through the door and greeted her that she is the grandma for all the kids in that school.

15:50

Dr. Jeanice K. Swift

And she said, You, know what? A lot of our kids may not have a grandparent locally. And she had such pride and really was just glowing that I'm the grandma of all of these children. And I'll tell you by being in the hallways with her that day, the children think she's the grandma. So, to me, that's the true test.

16:15

Jeanice Swift

That's one example. I could give 20 more of really valued partnership and volunteerism in the Ann Arbor community, Ann Arbor Public Schools, folks make a positive impact and change the world for good by volunteering in our schools.

16:33

Andrew Cluley

And the kids really feel it like when they when an adult comes in that doesn't have to be there, but they come in and they do something and it you know, it shows that, hey, you matter as a student.

16:46

Dr. Jeanice K. Swift

It does it makes all the difference for that community feel in a school.

16:54

Andrew Cluley

All right. Well, we're going to all celebrate Earth Day this weekend. And I want to thank you, Emile Lauzzana, for coming in and joining us for the podcast today.

17:03

Emile Lauzzana

Thank you.

17:04

Andrew Cluley

And Dr. Swift, Thank you.

17:05

Jeanice Swift

Wonderful to be here and wonderful to celebrate Earth Day in Ann Arbor.

17:10

Andrew Cluley

And I'm going to get one more plug in, please participate in the Listen and Learn tour. You can find out all about it at A2schools.org/ListenLearn and from that page you can get the link to the ThoughtExchange if you want to participate that way. And as I said, we'll be posting events on that page as well.

17:31

Andrew Cluley

If you want to participate in person. And as always, if you have any questions about the Ann Arbor Public Schools, the first place to go is A2schools.org. And if you have a topic that you'd like us to talk about in a future episode, please email me communications@A2Schools.org. And thanks once more for listening to this week's episode of the A2 Schools podcast.