Miller Elementary Certified Green

School awarded a gold-level LEED certification for green innovations

Miller Elementary has become the first school east of the Cascades to receive a gold certification in Leaderhip in Energy and Environmental Design from the U.S. Green Business Council. The 67,000-square-foot facility, which cost about $13.3 million to build and to install water lines around the property, opened this fall with a variety of green building innovations.

The U.S. Green Business Council recently informed the district that the school has been awarded the gold LEED certification, the second-highest certification available. LEED-certified buildings receive a plaque as well as some tax credits and cash incentives.

Deputy Superintendent John Rexford said Miller Elementary started out as an experiment to see how well the district’s elementary-school prototype could stack up with LEED-certified buildings. With several changes, Rexford said, it became clear the school could earn a gold rating.

“We thought we’d see if we could reach it,” he said.

Among the green features included in the school’s design were bicycle racks and shower facilities to encourage staff to bicycle to and from school, and drought-friendly landscaping that maintains natural storm water flows. More than half of the building’s wood frames and interior wood came from environmentally responsible forest management, and the school features a reflective roof with a coating that reduces heat absorption as well as more than 250 solar panels. Builders included high-efficiency faucets and low-flush toilets and waterless urinals in the bathroom, and sent more than 75 percent of the building’s construction waste to local recycling centers.

Michael McLandress, the district’s construction project manager, said Miller Elementary’s mechanical and electrical systems have been working well, and he’s particularly pleased with the landscaping.

“We’re basically restoring the area to its native habitat, and the plants are sprouting up and looking good,” he said.

The Oregon Department of Energy gave Bend-La Pine Schools a $50,000 grant to cover many of the additional expenses associated with applying for the certification. And there likely will be more cost savings, some in the form of business energy tax credits.

The certification qualifies the district for tax credits and cash incentives.

McLandress estimated the district would collect approximately $400,000.

“That money will offset the cost of construction,” Rexford said.

Right now, the district doesn’t have an estimate on the amount it has saved with the solar array and other energy-saving aspects of the school. But McLandress noted the school will have an evaluation sometime in the coming months to determine how green the school actually is.

“That’s what we all want to know, what the litmus test is,” McLandress said.

While the LEED certification comes primarily from the way in which the school is built, Miller Elementary Principal Steve Hill wanted students to study the environment and work to minimize waste as well.

Hill said the school has been able to significantly cut down on paper waste and other trash this year. In addition to using e-mail and other electronic means to send newsletters to parents, students have been washing dishes with parent supervision to cut down on cafeteria waste.

As a result, Miller Elementary produces between one-third and one-half the amount of garbage as other elementary schools in Bend, and is saving the district money by having fewer trash pickup times.

The school has also tied its science units to the building’s alternative energy and water, which Hill said has also been successful.

“When you educate children, and you practice what you’re teaching, you end up making it pretty seamless for the children,” Hill said. “They think all schools do this, and hopefully they will all do this stuff as adults.”

The district isn’t finished with green building.

Rosland Elementary, the new elementary school in La Pine, is currently under construction and will feature many of the same green innovations included at Miller Elementary. The district is still deciding whether to include curriculum and a kiosk at the front of the school like Miller used to score LEED points. But Rexford said the school will apply for LEED gold certification.

As for future Bend-La Pine schools, Rexford said the district may continue to seek out LEED certification, or it may choose to look at other energy-efficient programs like the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s High Performance Schools program.

“We want to continue to have our buildings be great learning environments,” Rexford said. “In using LEED we have created some better buildings, we’ve improved on our design if you will. But we want to make sure we get the best bang for our buck.”

McLandress said while future schools may not be certified, the work has been positive.

“It’s hard to equate the financial bottom line on how our building affects students and how it affects their way of thinking and inspires them,” McLandress said. “What’s really neat is the impact it’s had on the students there.”