Luci | 2012/04/26

Very inspirational article. I hope the efforts here become contagious. We need this kind of thinking not just in our public schools, but in legislation, businesses, homes, and industry as well -- For we are ALL interconnected! Recycling malls should be in every city to recycle nearly all materials. All buildings and communities should be built and operated as green as possible. People who own hybrid cars should not be entitled to a reserved parking spot on that basis, but rather anyone who has made a substantial effort to going green should be acknowledged and/or awarded a reserved parking spot for a month. Thanks for publishing this.

? | 2010/05/31

What a smart idea, all children need this kind of a school. Our school flooded in May. I wish our district could build a new school. 5/31/2010

John Richmond | 2010/04/29

Ok -- first relatively negative comment: First, for where the school is it's got laudable features, the building itself being the education about seasons and the forest ecosystem being chief among them. The emphasis on natural lighting is also excellent. Two thoughts: Being a Virginian I have some knowledge of where Manassas Park is. Where is the school? If it's on the outskirts of the city almost every student is getting there by bus or, more likely, by car. This undoes all the green features of the school in comparison to a more central location accessible by walking, biking, or public transport. The architect is not at fault on this one, and getting Manassas Park City Council to more intelligently plan their city is a bigger issue than one school building. The green light that comes on to encourage people to open their windows is another issue. Yes, that probably does help people to more effectively save energy, but what if the temperature thresholds for the green light are set too high or too low? I burn up in my classroom at the regular temperature setting, so I leave the window open all night on cooler nights to get a better temperature. Right now I have the AC blowing hard, something I wouldn't have to do with a saner system like they have at this new school. I'd be interested in knowing who decides on the range of temeperatures that are encouraged inside the building. My wife and I keep our house at between 60 and 77 degrees, meaning that for 5 months each year we use no heating or cooling at all. On the whole, some neat things. The building saves as much water in a day as my house can collect and use in 6 months. Thanks again for the article.

Megan | 2010/04/15

Our new schools in inner city Ohio look like prisons. Teachers and kids are on the bottom of the "societal chain". Other neighborhood 20 miles from us have beautiful schools with portal windows to reflect living near Lake Erie.

vallen | 2010/04/15

How much has the scores increased? We are such a data driven society now that I need data to show the gains of this beautiful innovated school setting. Thanks

Stormy | 2010/04/15

Loved the article. Wish every child could experience such a beautiful place of learning!

? | 2010/04/14

?

? | 2010/04/14

Curious about the hybrid parking. Does this not economically label. I wish I was driving a hybrid but, the cost is out of reach. Why don't I get a parking spot due to my other economically feasible actions. Dana

? | 2010/04/14

Curious about the hybrid parking. Does this not economically label. I wish I was driving a hybrid but, the cost is out of reach. Why don't I get a parking spot due to my other economically feasible decisions. Dana

Michelle | 2010/04/14

This is a dream of a school. I wish our district could do the same!

Andrea | 2010/04/14

This article was inspiring. My school, like others mentioned, is old and not environmentally friendly or efficient. I would love to read some articles about what teachers and students can to at their inefficient schools to make a difference besides recycling. Thanks

Mark | 2010/04/13

Nice looking school

Michelle | 2010/04/12

Wish my school could look this nice.

Jean | 2010/04/12

More stories on going green, please!

UnKnown | 2010/04/12

Thank You for this article.

Wyck Knox | 2010/03/17

Thank you for the nice article, Cindy - and we appreciate the NEA spreading the word about the project. I was honored to be able to work with an entire team of talented people here at VMDO Architects in Charlottesville - along with a great group of consulting engineers. The design credit really belongs to the team and to VMDO. Please feel free to contact us if you'd like to know more about the project or high performance K-12 schools in general. It can be done!

Liz | 2010/03/10

Seeing this school makes me even more disappointed in the poor design of the 3yr old school in which I teach. The design only considers the monitoring of the students rather than creating an inviting, friendly atmosphere. Our air quality is poor, natural light is non-existent in most classrooms and the tile floors are already in horrible shape. I wish our district had spent less on the granite counter tops in the administration building and put more thought into making our 4 new schools not only environmentally friendly, but people friendly as well. Well done, Virginia. Kudos!

Liz | 2010/03/09

to Police Officer's Mom. . . The words at the bottom are not meaningful. They're selected from a list of words and designed to make sure that posts are made by humans and not computer programs posting ads. The NEA uses a service that does this. It's not making a statement.

Police officer's mom | 2010/03/06

I was going to leave a message about the "green" school. However, the coded text that I would need to type to submit the comment, I found offensive. "pigpen police", this code word is not what I expected from a NEA site.

aimee | 2010/03/01

this girls on the bottom are super right. They are my friends and they are SUOER CRAZY when it comes to go green...and they are only sixteen..lol

brenda | 2010/03/01

my friend alexandra on the bottom is way right. We are from brownsville texas and people here are NOT SUPPORTIVE at all. We do the go green section in our school and we are trying to send on the advice. This is a great example to show to the world that we CAN do it. Not only do we learn and save money, we also help our earth which is the BEST we can do. EXCELLENT JOB AND KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!!

alexandra | 2010/03/01

i think this is a great idea. My friend and me had thought about that back when we were in 8th grade, but we didnt have supprt but now we are trying to do the same so we can also do our share too

Ms. Amy Finegold | 2010/02/26

This is an amazing "Eco-School. I am the Sustainabiltiy Coordinator at P.S. 225 in New York, NY and I am so happy to see green ideas and learning in action. Applause!

Jessica Kulp | 2010/02/25

I could not be more impressed by this. Thank you, NEA, for sharing. What a great model for the rest of us.