Your CHPS School can be a Green Ribbon School

Thirty-three states and the District of Columbia have signed up to participate in the pilot year of the US Department of Education's (ED) Green Ribbon Schools Awards Program. Modeled loosely after the Blue Ribbon Schools program for academic performance, the Green Ribbon School will recognize exemplary efforts in three pillar areas:

• I) Environmental Impact and Energy Efficiency
• II) Healthy School Environments
• III) Environmental and Sustainability Education

States may nominate up to four schools and the Education Department plans to make about 50 awards. Schools in participating states covered by a CHPS Criteria -- California, Colorado, New York, Rhode Island, Virginia, and Washington or CHPS Prefab -- will get credit towards a Green Ribbon for receiving CHPS Verified or CHPS Designed recognition. Schools in any of the Green Ribbon states that have conducted the Operations Report Card (ORC) will also receive credit. Additional points will be received by schools for meeting certain CHPS state prerequisites and/or credits.

State specific applications are currently under development based on a federal template along with the submittal deadline. Here are key deadlines in some of the participating states:

• Washington: Applications are available here and are due February 15, 2012
• New York: A timeline is currently available here and a call for applications is slated for January 20, 2012, with the applications due back by February 24, 2012
• California: The application is now available here
• Virginia: Applications are available here and applications are due by February 21, 2012
• Colorado: The application will be available on January 11, 2011, and will be due Wednesday, February 15, 2012. Check the The Colorado Department of Education website for more information by searching "Competitive Grants & Awards". CDE will also be holding a webinar on the application process on Friday, January 20, 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM MST. The CDE contact is Lynn Bamberry at 303-866-6813 or bamberry_l@cde.state.co.us.

The state nominees will be due to the US Education Department in March 2012 and the awards are slated to be announced for Earth Day at the end of April. CHPS will post additional information as the state applications and timelines become available.

The states that are participating in this pilot year of Green Ribbon Schools are: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, DC, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Get more info on the US Department of Education's (ED) Green Ribbon Schools Program webpage.