Warner Elementary School in the Red Clay School District is Delaware’s 2018 Green Ribbon award winner.
The Green Ribbon program recognizes schools for several things - according to Tonyea Meade, Green Ribbon coordinator at the Department of Education.
“It is out of the U.S. Department of Education. And it recognizes schools….it’s three prongs, three pillars, for having healthy schools, for reducing energy and also environmental education. So it has to have all three pillars in order to get recognition,” said Meade.
Meade says Warner’s biggest accomplishment was starting a comprehensive recycling program. It went from not recycling at all to having recycling bins for paper, plastics and aluminum in every classroom. The school also switched from styrofoam lunch trays to recycled paper trays AND recycles all the milk jugs in the lunch-room.
She says Warner students students made strides in a number of other areas as well.
“They do a lot of recycling in their school. They have their community involved with having gardens, vegetable gardens; they raise those vegetables and serve them in their lunch-room. They’re healthy, being very active in their phys-ed classrooms and recess,” Meade said.
State officials will honor Warner Elementary School in a ceremony on May 21. And the school is now the state’s representative in the national Green Ribbon competition.
The U.S. Department of Education names national winners next month.
