USC school earns LEED certification
Upper St. Clair School District has received LEED Silver certification for one of its middle schools and expects to have a decision within two months about the other.
David McLean, the architect who designed renovations to both middle schools, said the designation in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design from the U.S. Green Building Council, which has been awarded to Boyce Middle School, is held by only about two dozen school buildings in Pennsylvania. He said most of those are on the eastern end of the state.
As a result of the designation, the district will receive an additional $567,700 in reimbursement from the Pennsylvania Department of Education, according to Patrick O’Toole, superintendent.
The district took out a $60 million bond issue to renovate Boyce and Fort Couch middle schools, according to Frosina Cordisco, business manager for the district.
O’Toole said on Oct. 7 that the initial meetings to consider LEED certification began five years ago.
The renovation project began in 2007 when the school board gave approval to begin conducting meetings to discuss renovation options for the two middle schools, according to a press release from the district. The project was approved in August 2009 and completed in January 2012.
Graves said words like “LEED” and “green” mean something to today’s young people. “These are things that are very important to them,” he said.
O’Toole stated in the press release, “In addition to the financial benefits, it sends a great message to the students and the community about social responsibility, science and the benefits of a quality learning environment.”
Graves said the application was an enormous amount of work taking “mountains of data.”
According to Graves, the renovated building cuts down on light pollution and water usage. He said 35 percent of the power used in the building is from renewable sources and a significant amount of recycled materials were used in the renovation construction.
The building also uses “daylight harvesting.” This system automatically dims the lights when more natural light is available. According to Graves, students can track this on a computer and monitor the differences between the north and south sides of the building.
The district expects to learn about Silver LEED certification for Fort Couch Middle School within the next two months, Graves said.
In other business, the school board was also notified that the district has received grant funding from the PA CARES (creating an atmosphere of respect and environment for success) program of the Highmark Foundation to fund training for the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program and assistance in implementation at the high school.
Eloise Stoehr, supervisor of pupil personnel services, said the district has been using the anti-bullying program in the elementary and middle schools in the district since the 2011-12 school year. She said that Eisenhower Elementary is one of eight schools in the state to get special recognition at the 2013 Pennsylvania Safe Schools Conference for quality implementation of the program.
Stoehr said the latest round of Highmark Foundation funding to set up the program at the high school amounts to nearly $10,000.