“Sustainability is about reducing our footprint on the environment,” said Seth Williams, Environmental Programs facilitator and a former Fowler Middle School science teacher. “Through our programs, students are building leadership skills so they can go out into the community and lead adults. They’re making a difference in the community.”

These environmental programs are also saving some green, at both the campus and District levels.

Campus efforts

On each of the DIstrict’s 77 campuses, sustainability programs are run by an environmental services lead and a student team.

At elementary schools, Green Teams help pick up classroom recycling and lead efforts to reduce waste. In secondary, students can join the District-wide leadership program EarthCorps and Teens4Green, a city of Frisco program. Most high schools have student-led clubs that work with Environmental Programs throughout the year on activities such as bag and battery drives, campus cleanups, Food Rescue and more.

Throughout the year, at all campuses, students pitch in for:

• Bag/Plastic Film Recycling Drive — Watch a video about FISD bag recycling.

• Stream Clean — Students, families and staff sign up to clean riparian areas near streams, ponds and lakes. This is similar to Clean it and Green It, a campus and community cleanup event.

• Walk and Bike to School Days

• Battery Recycling Drive — Campuses compete to collect the most recycled batteries and learn about the environmental impact of batteries on landfills. Batteries in the recycling stream are a common cause of fires.

  • This year’s drive, held Jan. 15-19, collected a record 3,332 pounds — that’s an increase of 1,065 pounds over last year! The schools that collected the most batteries were Fowler Middle (204 pounds) and Sparks Elementary (181 pounds).

• Food Rescue — Students learn about packing environmentally friendly lunches, food audits, composting and food packaging. Watch a video about Food Rescue.

• Earth Month (April) — Topics covered throughout the year are revisited, and many campuses host speakers and lessons through FISD Environmental Programs and the Frisco Parks Department. Many campuses plant gardens, and they send out daily environmental focuses.

• Campus gardens

• Classroom cleanouts

“The District having a focus on recycling and landfill diversion is important,” Williams said, “but each school pushing out these programs, making recycling and composting a focus, is creating a buy-in for the next generation.”

District efforts

Frisco ISD is taking out the trash and saving money in the process.

As going green has taken off, more recycling programs and energy-efficient products have been produced and promoted for their cost savings. A newer building constructed with energy-efficient materials costs less to run; updated, automated lights and faucets mean less waste; recycling and compost bins divert trash from a dumpster that costs twice as much to haul away.

“Trash is expensive,” Williams said.

Every time paper, plastic and food waste — even scrap metal and pallet wrap — are diverted from the landfill, the environment benefits and FISD sees a cost savings.

And when it comes to making eco-conscious choices, no stone is left unturned. Even schools’ facades, grounds and energy sources are considered.

Over 55 campuses feature energy-efficient systems such as:

• Geothermal heat pumps, a more efficient alternative to traditional HVAC and hot water heaters

• Bipolar ionization, which purifies the air

• LED lighting

• ICF (insulated concrete form) construction

With these choices, campuses can reduce energy consumption up to 40% when compared to similar campuses with more conventional building construction and HVAC systems. 

On the remaining campuses, Frisco ISD plans to bring these high-efficiency systems through HVAC renovations and retrofit projects.

Trash pickup is another way the District is keeping costs down. 

“If you’ve got a mostly empty dumpster, you’re just paying a trash truck to pick up air,” Williams said. “I try to keep the schools running at a bare minimum of service, so we’re not overflowing but we get pickup when we actually need it. We’re not wasting those trips.”