BUSINESS CASE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP

The CMS Environmental Charter was developed as part of the Strategic Plan 2014 development process.  The excerpts below present the business case for the district adopting environmental stewardship into everyday practice.  The materials below provide:

• the district definition of environmental stewardship
• a description of the district environmental footprint
• insight into the district's impacts on the environment
• a vision for where the district's environmental programs are headed
• references showing the efficacy and value of formal environmental management systems. 

The complete Environmental Charter may be downloaded by clicking here >>> Environmental+Charter.pdf .

CMS ENVIRONMENTAL CHARTER

INTRODUCTION

Environmental stewardship – the wise and sustainable use of resources – is no longer optional. It is essential. In the twenty first century, sustainability and stewardship are requirements for any organization or individual with finite financial and physical resources. As a publicly funded entity, CMS has both a responsibility and an opportunity to lead the way in using resources in a wise and sustainable way.  Environmental stewardship will enable CMS to stretch its budget in new ways by reducing costs across the spectrum of business operations while improving environmental performance.  As of 2010, CMS has 179 schools, 649 buildings, 19,000 employees and 137,000 students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade occupying 20.6 million square feet of building space on 4,892 acres of land. The district uses more than 350,000 reams of paper each year. Some other facts about our annual usage and operations: CMS consumes 3.5 million gallons of fuel in its fleet of 1,150 buses traveling 125,000 miles daily. It uses 226 million kilowatts of electrical power to operate schools and offices. It uses 3.5 million therms of natural gas. It serves 23.5 million meals. It consumes more than 256 million gallons of potable water. The district generates more than 20 million pounds of solid waste. All of this consumption is part of the district’s daily business cycle of educating children and it all impacts the environment. 

The scale of district operations creates an equally large opportunity to practice wise and sustainable use of resources. CMS will realize that opportunity by bringing the district into compliance with ISO 14001, the rigorous standard for environmental management systems that is used around the world.  Careful use of resources also aligns with established policy set by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education. In 2008, the Board amended its Policy ECF: Environmental Stewardship. The policy reads, in part:  The Board of Education believes that Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools must be an effective steward of our natural resources. The Board hereby commits that the district will continue and strengthen its efforts to operate in a manner that protects and conserves our air, water, and land resources, improves the environment, and promotes environmentally sound behavior. Further, the Board will join other local and state governmental entities in initiatives that promote environmentally sound policies and practices.… The Board directs the Superintendent to develop an Environmental Management System (“EMS”) that shall be set forth in regulations to accompany this policy.… The Superintendent shall also develop a communication plan to make students, staff and the community aware of the EMS and ways in which they can contribute to the district’s stewardship of natural resources.

Effective environmental stewardship will require educating parents, students and CMS staff.  We want to engage all stakeholders, creating an awareness and sense of individual responsibility around environmental management and wise use of resources. This will require responsible choices and deep commitment by every individual involved in CMS and its schools.

  Current Environment and Background

CMS is steward of the largest land holdings, has the largest amount of occupied space, operates the largest public transportation fleet and is one of the largest consumers of utilities in Mecklenburg County.  Government agencies are regularly monitored for environmental performance in terms of compliance and efficiencies as stewards of the public trust and fiduciaries of public funds.  Areas such as energy and natural resource consumption have become issues of paramount importance to the sustainability of business operations and are increasingly of elevated interest to the public.  Recognizing the business value of environmental improvements, CMS staff have implemented strategies to reduce CMS’s environmental footprint and the cost of operations.  Examples of environmental leadership initiatives include, but are not limited to: lowering chemical load of buildings and occupants through the use of integrated pest management and green cleaning products, utility management techniques including stakeholder involvement resulting in consumption and emission reductions, retrofitting diesel buses reducing particulate and other emissions, and teaming with Mecklenburg County reducing waste while increasing natural resource reclamation through recycling.

Engaging students in the practice of environmental stewardship is a core value of this Charter.  A few examples of student engagement follow. 

• "Green Invaders-when plants become a threat to nature"-This program is free to teachers of 3rd-8th grade students and was created by a grant from Duke Energy and distributed by the Mecklenburg County Parks and Recreation department. It includes a DVD to help students/teachers identify invasive exotic plants and how to "pull them". There are lesson plans, activities, labs, and opportunities for students to gather at local Park and Recreation facilities during teacher workdays to "pull" exotic plants together. 
• Duke Energy's "Get Energy Smart" program is for 3rd and 4th grade classes and is free to teachers in any school that uses Duke Energy. This program includes a Mrs. Frizzle book about energy efficiency, four activities to do with the class, and a post-activity survey to take home to parents. Parents who complete the survey and return it to Duke Energy will be monitored to see if they reduce their energy use 10% and will be rewarded with $200 in incentives from Duke Energy.
• Middle schools may participate in a Coca Cola Recycling project. This project includes educational presentations by Coca Cola experts on recycling and then schools collect plastic bottles and cans for recycling. The money earned from these recyclables is used by Ecology/Environmental clubs in the participating middle schools. 
• Duke Energy sponsors a student weeklong immersion experience and a teacher weeklong immersion experience to learn about how energy is produced, how to conserve it, and the careers connected with energy production.  During summer 2009, 24 students and 25 teachers participated. These teachers are writing lesson plans that are available for other middle and high school science teachers on energy topics. Sustainability Workshop for Teachers was created for AP/IB teachers to give them field experiences in topics relating to "Sustainability".  
• All CMS students are required to complete Earth/Environmental Science and the topics of stewardship and sustainability are written into each unit of the CMS pacing guide. The Earth/Environmental science teachers meet monthly at Alliance meetings and sustainability is an aspect of their monthly professional development.    
• Students receive awards at the annual Mecklenburg County Recycling Awards Ceremony wherein 2009 BOCC Chair Roberts presented three CMS School student delegations with awards for outstanding recycling efforts.  
• The CMS Environmental Management website provides environmental stewardship information for  teachers, students and the public.   Links to a number of federal websites operated for student-teacher benefit including hundreds of environmental stewardship related lesson plans are provided through the CMS website.

CMS is recognized as the only K12 partner in the North Carolina Department of the Environmental and Natural Resources (DENR) Environmental Stewardship Initiative (ESI) for commitment to environmental stewardship.  Examples of CMS environmental stewardship in district operations follow.

The District has dedicated energy management staff that evaluates the District’s energy use, manage the centralized environmental management systems controlling HVAC systems at 150 schools and also audit energy use at facilities identifying means and methods for the reduction in energy and water usage.  Each School Principal has named an energy coordinator for their school’s facilities.  Energy coordinators receive monthly school-specific reports from the Energy Management Office on energy consumption used in promoting energy conservation measures at their respective schools.  CMS is in partnership with the United States Department of Energy,  Energy Star program.  Through this partnership CMS utilizes Utility Manager Pro software to track and evaluate energy use.  Key consumption variances are identified allowing for study and repair of adverse trends.  Each of CMS’s 179  campuses have been initially rated using the Energy Star Portfolio Manager program.  Two CMS campuses have been rated Energy Star Schools in 2010 with 40 additional schools meeting the certification criteria and under evaluation for certification submittal.

The District’s Transportation Department has received over $1 million from various state and local grants since 2007 providing the means to make significant strides to improve air quality.  Initiatives to improve emissions have included retrofitting older diesel buses with diesel oxidation catalysts or diesel particulate  filters, utilizing ultra low sulfur diesel (ULSD) fuel, operating 1 of 2 electric hybrid buses in North Carolina, and operating 8 CNG buses.   These retrofits reduce emissions of particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds.  Transportation recently received a 2008 Mobile Source Emission Reduction (MSER) Grant from the North Carolina Division of Air Quality to repower of three activity buses with 2008 emissions level engines and a 2009 Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) Grant from the North Carolina Department of Transportation for the retrofit of 14 fuel trucks, 2 activity buses, 44 yellow school buses and GUS.  Transportation has also reduced miles traveled by the student bus fleet by at least 10,000 miles per school day resulting in the reduction of at least 31.6 metric tons of carbon equivalent emissions per school day.

The District participates in an Interlocal Agreement for Recycling and Solid Waste with Mecklenburg County.  The District’s solid waste trash collection weight was 10,346.93 tons this past year; total amount of material recycled per the inter-local agreement 1,327.23 tons representing a recycled materials waste stream of 11%.  Resource reclamation beyond inter-local agreement recycling includes CMS’s operation of a substantial surplus program.   CMS is in the process of securing a solid waste characterization audit.  This audit will classify those solids being sent to landfill and provide input into sustainable purchase decision making.  This may lead toward the purchase of products and/or support process developments that result in less solid waste disposed of by CMS.

The CMS Print Shop decommissioned two chemical intensive printing presses replacing them with state of the art environmentally friendly Xerox IGen 3 dry printing equipment.  More than 80 percent, by weight, of the waste generated by the IGen3 - including consumables such as dry ink (toner), packaging and parts - can be returned, reused or recycled. The dry inks are non-toxic and have a transfer efficiency rate approaching 100 percent, resulting in less waste.  The IGen strictly controls emissions - such as ozone, dust and volatile organic compounds. The District has also converted from chemical based film developing to digital photography.  Additional print shop efficiency measures have been under extensive study and were signed off by the Board of Education Chair, though were lost in the procurement process.

CMS participates in the Mecklenburg County Phase II Storm Water Permit through maintaining 39 rain gardens as part of our Storm Water controls program. County Storm Water Services program staff surveyed 19 identified storm water priority locations as precursor to development of Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plans (SW3P).  County staff also provided SW3P training to 50 CMS staff whose positions have impact on Storm Water effluent.

CMS has established a web-based chemical inventory system in which the material safety data sheets (MSDS) and the chemical inventory of all chemicals used by Building Services are immediately accessible through the CMS website.  The CMS electronic MSDS library system automatically keeps MSDS sheets up to date without staff required to conduct continuous research updating the paper based chemical libraries located around the district. 

CMS has developed, trained and achieved medical clearance for an in-house special maintenance assignment response team (SMART TEAM) to address small scale asbestos and mold response.  The SMART team is set up for immediate response on a 24/7/365 emergency response basis.  This team may conduct critical response work at a fraction of the cost of outsourced restoration, though large scale work will remain outsourced.

CMS is partnered with the North Carolina Environmental Stewardship Initiative (ESI) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).  This partnership represents the first such partnership in Mecklenburg County and the first K12 partnership in the state.  CMS’s partnership in this program was reported to the NC Legislature for the first time in 2008. CMS also holds membership on the Mecklenburg County Environmental Leadership Team (ELT).  The ELT is charged with development of programs and measures for implementing the Board of County Commissioners ten environmental leadership principles.   CMS is obligated to provide an annual listing of goals, measures and results in the fulfillment of the Board of County Commissioners guiding principles.  CMS is also partnered with the Regional Air Quality Board’s Clean Air Works program to assist the region in reduction of nitrogen oxides and VOC’s which are primary components in the production of ground level ozone; the region’s number one air quality problem.  Mecklenburg County and the surrounding regions are in non-attainment status resulting in increased permitting and regulation of business.   CMS is also a core stakeholder in the Centralia Council of Government’s Clean Fuels Coalition.  Additionally, the United States Environmental Protection Agency has deemed CMS a National Model of Sustained Excellence and National Mentor of the Year.  CMS serves as one of seven faculty school districts in the USEPA Tools for Schools program.

One critical background item is the challenge of supporting occupied space and student population growth, while experiencing reductions in staff and funding.  In 2010, CMS is operating 20.6 million square feet of building space with a maintenance staff of 218, whereas in 1988 the district operated 8.5 million square feet and a maintenance staff of 236.  The district has a deferred maintenance backlog in excess of  $136 million dollars at this writing.   This figure represents the unfunded amount of classroom and support structure maintenance necessary to maintain operations and protect the public’s investment in CMS educational facilities.  The private sector invests in preventive maintenance because it improves the bottom line.  Proper maintenance extends building system lifecycles, assists in preventing premature building system failures and provides occupants more stable indoor environments.  Public support for funding preventive maintenance can be traced to the Committee of 33 who in the late 1990’s called for the full funding of a CMS preventive maintenance program.  The Committee’s recommendation was not implemented. Research indicates that the environmental condition of buildings have impact on education performance.   CMS is in development of an indoor environmental index that will be used to supplement existing capital plan priorities.

Innovative practices under study or adopted into practice include: • removing copper chromium arsenate (CCA) treated timbers at 76 playgrounds. • instituted four day summer work week with limited key exceptions; 10 hour days. • Changed floor stripping process eliminating the use of approximately 17,200 gallons of caustic stripping chemicals in schools. • Child Nutrition purchases locally grown produce through the Friends of Farmers local produce program. • Conducting pilot studies on class III high efficiency transformers for school buildings. • Installation of low flow toilets and urinals • Installation of 24 high performance tankless water heaters. • Implementation of irrigation controls including time and duration of turf irrigation • Installation of fluorescent tube recycling station used to recycle spent light tubes reducing emissions of mercury and phosphor as well as reducing the amount of glass, metal end caps and electronic components taking up landfill space. • Pilot studies into the use of biological and alcohol based parts cleaners displacing VOC based automotive parts cleaner reducing VOC emissions. • Recycling of pallets received through the Inventory and Distribution Department reducing the amount of landfill spaced occupied by used pallets. • 240 playgrounds used 5400 cubic yards of fall protection material made from recycled pallets. •

The CMS environmental stewardship initiative is in part operating in alliance with the “Greening the Government” series of United States Presidential Executive Orders which require the federal government to adopt environmental stewardship principles and practices into everyday government business and decision making.  The Greening the Government series was initiated by President William Jefferson Clinton (Executive Order 13101 Greening the Government Through Waste Prevention, Recycling and Acquisition September 14, 1998; Executive Order 13123 Greening the Government Through Efficient Energy Management of June 1999; Executive Order 13148 Greening the Government Through Leadership in Environmental Management; Executive Order 13149 Greening the Government Through Federal Fleet and Transportation Efficiency each of April 21, 2000; Executive Order 13150 Federal Workforce Transportation of April 21, 2000) and followed by President George W. Bush (Executive Order 13423 Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy and Transportation Management of January 24, 2007) and strengthened by President Barack  Obama (Executive Order 13514 Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy and Economic Performance October 5, 2009).  This series of Executive Orders establishes requirements for improved federal government agency operational efficiencies, designation of a senior environmental stewardship leadership at each agency and the establishment of standardized metrics for accountability and reporting purposes.  

State of North Carolina Executive Order 156 State Government Environmental Sustainability, Reduction of Solid Waste and Procurement of Environmentally Preferable Products of July 20, 1999 established North Carolina’s call to environmental stewardship which in part assigns state agencies with responsibility for: assigning an environmental sustainability officer; considering and minimizing the environmental impacts associated with agency land use and acquisition, construction, facility management, and employee transportation; reducing and recycling material recoverable from solid waste originating at their facilities and from the construction and renovation of new facilities; procurement of goods and services that have a lesser or reduced effect on human health and the environment, including products made wholly or in part from recycled materials; and, encouraging and promoting conservation of energy through reducing wasteful, inefficient or uneconomical uses of energy resources.

The Mecklenburg County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) adopted the “Environmental Leadership Policy” on January 23, 2004.  This policy established BOCC Environmental Leadership Principles and the creation of the Environmental Leadership Team of which CMS secured membership in summer 2007.  The BOCC enacting resolution states in part, “The Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners desires that County government operate in a manner that conserves and protects our air, water and land resources, become a model of environmental stewardship for local governments, business and industry in our region, and use and apply the County’s existing and future resources wisely for the benefit of its citizens.

The CMBOE amended Board Policy ECF adopted in 1988 with an energy conservation focus in July 2008 by broadening its scope to cover environmental stewardship in the areas of environmental compliance, pollution prevention, resource conservation, resource recovery, sustainable development, sustainable purchasing, and behavioral change.  The Superintendent furthered this charge by incorporating Environmental Stewardship as Focus Area V of Strategic Plan 2014 leading to the creation of this charter.

Target Environment Description

At the culmination of this charter, CMS will have instituted environmental stewardship principles and practices into the everyday operations of the district.  Students, staff and community will take part in the district’s environmental stewardship program each accepting responsibility for their own impacts on the environment.   CMS will have developed and instituted means of providing environmental stewardship training and other communication techniques including the transparent reporting of results to students, staff, and the public leading toward a more widespread understanding of the importance of conserving today’s resources for the use of future generations.

CMS will have lowered utility consumption per square foot resulting in natural resource conservation, reductions in greenhouse gas pollution emissions and operating cost. Through the implementation of an energy conservation rebate program, CMS will engage schools in a competitive environment linked in part to the Energy Star certification program placing value on everyday stewardship principles.  CMS will practice natural resource conservation beyond energy conservation, through a sustainable purchasing approach.  Through sustainable purchasing, CMS will make purchasing decisions based, in part, on triple bottom line factors (economic, social and ecological) resulting in less solid waste, a reduced carbon footprint and a total cost component of purchase decision evaluation. The district’s recovery of natural resources will be increased by broadened recycling and salvage programs supporting both a reduction in the need for virgin natural resources and fostering reductions in solid waste. 

CMS will reduce fuel consumption and emissions through retrofit programs, alternative fuel mixtures, rightsizing, purchasing more environmentally friendly vehicles, reducing fleet age and fleet miles traveled.  Reduction in fuel consumption assists in reducing cost while also reducing the emission of ozone forming constituents adverse to the region’s non-attainment air quality status.

CMS will have brought to the attention of community leaders the long term financial benefit of adequately funding physical plant preventive maintenance using life cycle cost analysis techniques. Contractors and vendors will have acknowledged their environmental stewardship responsibilities and understand the expectation that they too have environmental stewardship responsibility when providing supplies, services and or construction to CMS.

Through the implementation of a sustainable development program, CMS will have ensured that from both a fiduciary and educational responsibility high performance schools are developed to the extent fiscal and other resources allow.  High performance schools are both more efficient to operate and provide indoor environments more conducive to the education process.  CMS will have built a LEED certified prototype elementary school further demonstrating commitment to both the fiscal and educational needs of the community.

CMS will be the first school system in North Carolina to have achieved the North Carolina Environmental Stewardship Initiative “Environmental Steward” recognition status.  Achievement of Environmental Steward status will demonstrate that CMS operates within an ISO 14001 equivalent environmental management system (EMS) and is achieving measurable environmental improvement toward defined measurable goals. Through codification, the CMS EMS will embed the district’s ISO 14001 compliant framework addressing Board of Education Policy ECF in the areas of: environmental compliance, pollution prevention, resource conservation, resource recovery, sustainable development, sustainable purchasing, and behavioral change.  The EMS will continue into the future as the basis of continuous improvement in the area of environmental performance.

In addition to improvements in environmental performance, CMS will have evaluated and implemented environmental measures that research indicates fosters conditions optimally conducive to enhanced student performance.  Indoor air-quality programming, building environmental quality indexing, and other practices will be in place supporting the educational process and benefiting building occupants.

Evidence that Demonstrates the Efficacy and/or Best Practices of this Project

REFERENCE 1:  “The Collaborative for High Performance Schools Best Practices Manual Volume I – Planning” 2006 Edition p3

Hyperlink Here:  http://www.chps.net/manual/documents/BPM_2006_Edition/CHPS_I_2006.pdf

“Higher Test Scores” - Learning is a dynamic, complicated process that can, and does, occur in all types of buildings and settings.  Anecdotally, the argument linking increased student performance with high-quality school facilities is straightforward.  Students in classrooms that are quite, well-lit, and properly ventilated with healthy air will learn faster because they are more comfortable, are sick less often, can see and hear better, and are less distracted.  Poor lighting, poor acoustics, and poor indoor air quality are barriers to education.  High performance schools remove these barriers, allowing teachers and students to work under the best possible conditions.  Quantifying the influence of school facilities on learning is a longstanding and highly debated subject in the educational community.  Research studies are complicated by the highly systematic nature of education, and the range of social, pedagogical, psychological, and environmental variables involved.  However, a growing number of studies are confirming the relationship between a school’s physical condition-especially its lighting, acoustics and indoor air quality- and student performance.”

REFERENCE 2:  “Environmental Management Systems: Do They Improve Performance?” University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Department of Public Policy, January 2003. Hyperlink Here: http://www.fedcenter.gov/_kd/Items/actions.cfm?action=Show&item_id=3446&destination=ShowItem

The reports finds:

“Overall benefits of EMS utilization in government facilities included better operational control in areas that impact the environment; better understanding of the root causes of non-compliance; improved operational efficiency and cost savings; improved communications within the organization and with outside stakeholders and contractors/vendors; and better relationships with regulators and stakeholders.”

REFERENCE 3:  “Final Report of the US EPA Environmental Management System Pilot Program for Local Government Entities” US EPA January 2000 Hyperlink here:  http://www.epa.gov/owm/iso14001/emsrepor.pdf

This report identifies the following benefits of local government EMS implementation;

1. A positive effect on environmental compliance and performance
2. Improved environmental awareness, involvement and competency throughout the organization
3. Better communication about environmental issues inside and outside the organization
4. Improved efficiency, reduced costs, greater consistency
5. Better relationships with regulators

The report identifies the following Keys to EMS Success;

1. Top management commitment and support is essential to the success of the EMS process.
2. Organizations who build on existing organizational processes and procedures are more successful than those that create new EMS elements.
3. The Implementation Team is pivotal to the success of the EMS program.
4. Employee awareness, understanding and involvement in the EMS should extend across and be recognized as an organizational priority.

REFERENCE 4:  “Indoor Air Quality and Student Performance: How Does Indoor Air Quality Affect a Child’s Ability to Learn?” US EPA Indoor Environments Division August 2003. Hyperlink Here: http://www.epa.gov/iedweb00/schools/pdfs/publications/iaq_and_student_performance.pdf

Discusses the role of air quality and its ability to assist or impede the education process.  Stipulates poor indoor air quality can impede calculation, memory and concentration.  Provides 61 related resources.

REFERENCE 5:   “DO INDOOR ENVIRONMENTS IN SCHOOLS INFLUENCE STUDENT PERFORMANCE? A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE”¹ Indoor Environment Dept., Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory 2002 Hyperlink Here: http://www.chps.net/info/iaq_papers/PaperII.1.pdf

“The most persuasive available evidence suggests that some aspects of IEQ, including low ventilation rate and less daylight or light, may reduce the performance of occupants, including students in schools….Although the available evidence does not persuasively document relationships between performance and specific indoor pollutants, it suggests that lower outdoor air ventilation rates, known to cause generally higher concentrations of the pollutants produced indoors, were related to reduced performance among occupants (Table 1a – Wargocki, 2000; Smedje, 1996).”

REFERENCE 6:   “North Carolina Environmental Stewardship Initiative Annual Legislative Report 2008” North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources Division of Pollution Prevention.

This report discusses the purposes of the Environmental Stewardship Initiative of the State of North Carolina and for the first time lists CMS as a partner in the program.  The table below provides a snapshot of savings in terms of pollution prevention, and cost savings through stewardship practices.  Hyperlink Here: http://www.p2pays.org/esi/2008Documents/ESILegislativeReport2008.pdf

 To download the entire Environmental Charter Click HERE>.>>>  Environmental+Charter.pdf .