• Reducing Environmental Impacts–Principia’s strategic plan includes energy optimization to reach LEED standards. The school’s goal is to create an independent micro-grid through the use of solar panels and wind turbines.The plan also includes curriculum changes to ensure these choices are seen as cultural norms. Principia has purchased 100% Ameren Pure Power for eight years, substantially supporting  green energy infrastructure in Missouri. The new Simon Fieldhouse, opening Fall 2022, has been prepared for solar installation, and peak generation will represent 40% of energy usage for the school. Principia utilizes rain gardens for stormwater management, and has introduced native plants and removed invasives in rain gardens, as well as in restored native habitats on campus. In total, 2 ponds, a savannah, a permaculture orchard, and gardens total 48 acres of restored native plants throughout the campus, an initiative undertaken with student support. 
• Improving Health & Wellness—Air quality testing has shown that Principia’s indoor air quality is higher than the outdoor air quality via the use of MERV13 filters and ionization. For the last decade, Principia has prioritized and utilized Green Seal Certified cleaning products. School Physical Education classes are mandatory and teach holistic health, and at upper grade levels, alternative P.E. classes including Gardening and “Eco P.E.” are offered. Fresh vegetables grown in the school’s gardens are utilized in the school kitchen. The campus has a student  wellness facility for the boarding students called Campus House which is also available 24/7  for any student needing a quiet atmosphere or 1:1 care. Principia employs a full-time counseling team, which focuses on  academic, college and career, and social/emotional learning. In addition, there are several student-led affinity/advocacy groups to support people of color, the LGBTQ+  community, and those interested in mental health awareness. These affinity groups work hand-in-hand with the school’s DEI professional development and curriculum.
• Environmental and Sustainability Education—Lower, Middle and Upper Schools maintain an IDEA Lab that is STEM focused and staffed by full-time teachers. Curriculum is intentionally tied to the United  Nations Sustainable Development Goals. In Middle School, students work with St. Louis city planners to generate ideas to shift to more sustainable practices, study genetically modified organisms and even travel to Costa Rica and learn about agricultural  practices around bananas and coffee while also studying biodiversity. In the Upper School, Principia offers an elective sustainability class that uses the United  Nations Sustainable Development Goals as a framework of entry to what sustainability is and how we can each affect change towards the betterment of humanity and our planet. Principia also hosts the Impact Challenge, a project which engages multiple local schools, and uses the UN Sustainable Development Goals as a platform with which students can engage as change makers for good in our communities and the world.

Flance serves quality education and care to a racially, culturally, developmentally, and socio-economically diverse population of children between ages six weeks and six years to ensure healthy physical, emotional, and social development. Flance was founded with a desire that all children have the best possible start in life, regardless of their families’ socioeconomic development, so we address healthy development in a comprehensive way. By providing students, families, staff, and community with resources and education, Flance encourages them to be environmentally and health-conscious to catalyze change within their communities.

• Reducing Environmental Impacts–Flance was built with LEED certification in mind, and the building itself contributes to increased environmental literacy and wellness of people and the planet. It was designed to bring the outdoors in—daylighting is used in 90% of the building, every classroom has immediate access visually and physically to the outdoors, and classrooms are named for trees native to Missouri. 75% of our roof is comprised of reflective materials, and the HVAC system can be controlled remotely even when the building is unoccupied. We use Energy Star Portfolio Manager to track gas and electricity usage and we have reduced our total GHG Emissions Intensity by 37% over the past two years. Two-thirds of our grounds are comprised of water-efficient and regionally appropriate plants, and we have bioswales and raingarden plants to retain stormwater and minimize runoff. This school year, we have been more proactive in reducing our waste production. Flance received a donation of three compost bins located by our community garden to make use of food waste. We also received 30 recycling bins, 2 recycling carts, and numerous educational materials from St. Louis City Recycles to help us educate and practice good recycling habits. This inspired us to begin a recycling tracking system and become more cognizant about ways we can encourage and support sustainable practices. Our newly established Green Team, comprised of administrative, teaching, and custodial staff, is working to educate all staff about waste reduction and how to incorporate this topic into classroom curriculum and school culture.
• Improving Health & Wellness–We encourage our families to make healthy life choices. Our chef prepares nourishing meals, including organic baby food, for our students incorporating a variety of fruits and vegetables daily. Our deliberate programming includes ongoing nutrition education, gardening education, physical activities, outdoor playtime, and nutrition and health-based professional development at least twice a year for staff. As a result, Flance was named the only Gold Level Healthy Way to Grow Center in the United States by the American Heart Association in October 2020. Flance was recognized for providing healthy environments for children, families, staff, and communities. In partnership with Affinia Health Care, Flance houses an on-site health clinic to provide a wide range of health services for Flance families. As a designated EnVision Center by HUD, since May 2020 we’ve provided over 25 tons of free fresh produce valued at over $180,000 to Flance families and our 63106 community neighbors via a weekly Free Fresh Food Box program. The 63106-zip code is one of the poorest zip codes in Missouri and is a food desert with limited access to affordable and nutritious food. When safe to do so, we are eager to return to utilizing our school to provide support through cooking classes for families and providing meeting space in our community room for a variety of events that have included parenting classes, movie nights, resume workshops, and job trainings.
• Environmental and Sustainability Education–Health and the environment are embedded in the curriculum, from math lessons that involve making a healthy snack to vocabulary acquisition reflective of the natural world and valuing stewardship. Community partnerships further enhance these efforts. For example, Flance partner Urban Harvest helps us with nutrition education with our on-site community garden. We incorporate Urban Harvest’s expertise in our curriculum for Pre-K classrooms, which includes planting, harvesting, gardening, and natural scavenger hunts. Children learn about fresh fruits and vegetables and the harvest supplements student and staff meals. When possible, we even share it with our families. In 2020, students harvested 200 pounds of produce. In August 2020, we started an after-school program that encouraged neighborhood children from ages 8 – 14 to explore and learn about our garden.

• Reducing Environmental Impacts–Parkway hired their first Sustainability Coordinator in 2010, setting the stage for the districtwide benchmarking and goal-setting that has led to the impressive decrease in energy use, water consumption, and waste of all sorts.
• Improving Health & Wellness–From the Indoor Air Quality Task Force to the ropes course adventure learning opportunities to food pantries kept stocked at many of their schools, PSD works to improve the overall health of their students and staff in a variety of ways.
• Environmental and Sustainability Education–In 2018, PSD brought in a second sustainability coordinator, this time focusing on the integration of sustainability into the curriculum. This school year, the Board of Education approved the inclusion of the Parkway Principles of Education for Sustainability into the elementary science curriculum, guaranteeing that students across this district will understand that they share the Earth with many others, learn how their actions make a difference, and develop their systems thinking skills.

• Reducing Environmental Impacts–Extensive improvements to the buildings that have earned the school an Energy Star Portfolio Manager score of 89 and adoption of landcare practices that include using a 10,000-gallon rainwater collection tank and 1,100 gallons-per-day greywater tank to irrigate the landscaping which now boasts 98% native plants.
• Improving Health & Wellness–From providing small-batch, scratch-made meals are made daily and monitored by trained nutritionists, abundant opportunities before and after school for outdoor physical activity, providing natural light and CO2 sensors in buildings to create spaces that support student and staff wellness, MICDS supports students’ physical and mental well-being throughout each school day.
• Environmental and Sustainability Education–Students at every level of this JK-12 school are exposed to sustainability as a primary value–from honeysuckle abatement to protect the school’s varied habitats to pursuing UN Sustainable Development Goals as part of foreign language instruction to plant-based research projects fusing computer science and biology.

• Reducing Environmental Impacts–Sunrise works hard to reduce waste at the school and develops creative partnerships to do so, from engaging parents in plastic trash reduction to partnering with local farmers to keep food waste out of the landfill.
• Improving Health & Wellness–The school engages local farmers, University Extension, and the Jefferson County Health Department to provide ongoing health and nutrition education for multiple grade levels and hosts an annual community health fair to connect students, parents, and community members with healthy lifestyle resources and provide free health screenings.
• Environmental and Sustainability Education–Annual professional development for teachers is provided to continually expand the use of their 22-acre outdoor classroom as a teaching tool. Again, they engage a variety of partners, from a local beekeepers association to the Missouri Department of Conservation, to help provide relevant and effective environmental education for students.