Vote Medford 2007

Full Text: (Q9) Green Initiatives

In our schools, where paper waste is recycled as a matter of course, parent volunteers work hard but can divert only a fraction of plastic and glass waste from disposal and Styrofoam cafeteria trays are thrown out with the trash. Meanwhile, energy costs associated with school buildings continue to rise. Building a wind turbine next to one of the schools for educational and conservation purposes is one example of innovation. What other greening initiatives would you propose be implemented, and with whom would you work to implement them?

Attenazio: (Q9) Green Initiatives

Some ideas…water conservation and rebates for Energy Star products to citizens. Expanded recycling options during trash collection days. Working with Water Dept., DPW, etc. to determine other ideas and to check with neighboring towns for fresh ideas and perspectives. I also like the idea of the wind turbine.

Brady: (Q9) Green Initiatives

Medford has taken several important steps to advance environmental responsibility. While more is required, we have encouraged recycling and begun to replace Styrofoam with bio-degradeable paper products. We retrofit our school buses to promote clean air. We burn gas rather than oil in our heating systems. Recently we approved a wind turbine as an alternative source for electricity. We are working to conserve energy and water in all of our buildings and to make our students aware of the environmental obligation they have to the future.

Cugno: (Q9) Green Initiatives

Though the word is out that the City of Medford is in the process of promoting Green. We, the public school system are making changes in going Green. For instance, the recycling of our paper in our schools is just one of many. The wind turbine that is being built at the McGlynn is another. Not only is the turbine going to reduce our cost in electricity at the McGlynn it is also going to be incorporated as part of our students curriculum in all of our schools in educating them on the importance of using other methods of electricity. Other ways that we are working on improving our greening initiatives is by utilizing our web-sites and telephone services as part of getting information out to our parents, using less paper. I have already started speaking to the Superintendent and would be happy to work with the rest of the school committee, parents, companies, the Department of Recycling and the Department of Energy and Environment in working on a two year phase into bio-degradable paper products in our cafeterias such as the Styrofoam and using a re-usable purchasing system for buying lunch and/or milk instead of tickets.

D'aveta: (Q9) Green Initiatives

The City of Medford has been forward thinking when it comes to ecologically sound initiatives, but I would like to see more planned and more accomplished. For example, do the roofs of the schools incorporate simple technology like green roofs to reduce wasted heat and cooling capacity? Is there funding beyond the wind turbine for PV cell arrays? And how can merely opening and closing school windows at certain times of the day benefit the students and save on utility costs at the same time?

DiGiantommaso: (Q9) Green Initiatives

The School Committee will work hard with staff, students, parents and vendors to improve our recycling policy.

Kulik: (Q9) Green Initiatives

Currently the school district would have you believe that paper is recycled regularly, but it is not. The official policy which was passed by the school committee is not being properly monitored to assure compliance.

Recycling must become a part of our culture, and it should be actively taught at the school. This can be done by insuring that our disposal service will handle school recycling as part of the normal trash pickup. Then we must make sure to provide receptacles for each material at the appropriate locations when disposal normally occurs. Most importantly, we must monitor the behavior of individuals at the disposal sites to insure compliance.

We need to educate and remind the staff and students on a regular basis that recycling is a way of life. Augment this with lessons about recycling in social studies, science, math, and health classes. We should encourage a parent to be the "compliance officer" to make sure that the recycling policies are being carried out.

Foamed polystyrene #6 (Styrofoam) is not currently being recycled in Medford, and to my knowledge is not cost effective or energy efficient to recycle. Alternatives such as coated paper present financial issues. It is not clear why washable trays would not be better, but it is possible that the cost of washing and the energy used would be worse than the economic and environmental cost of foamed polystyrene.

The new elementary buildings were built with modern HVAC plants, and are energy efficient. We can still encourage turning off lights where not needed, such as bathrooms, or hallways, gyms, and cafeterias where natural light is sufficient.

We should consider rooftop solar electrical and hot water panels. These have educational value as well. With the right safety installations we could have such installations as rooftop gardens to take advantage of unobstructed sunlight. There are several companies with web sites that will install and maintain panels. Although current electrical rates show questionable financial viability, most models do not take into account the potential astronomical rise in the price of fuel over the next 20 years as China and India and other developing areas of the world increase the demand, while the supply will continue to decrease.

We should also consider encouraging walk and ride to school initiatives that reduce the number of individual car trips. Unfortunately many families couple the drop at school with leaving for a commute to a job, so the incentive to reduce the trip is much less. We should also encourage conservation at home. CFL lights, fewer car trips, car pooling, bicycling, and walking are ways that we all can save energy.

O'Keefe: (Q9) Green Initiatives

Working with local community groups, school committee members, and Federal, State, and local energy efficiency experts, my role as a school committee member would be achieving the biggest bang for Medford's energy buck. Energy efficiency is by far the most cost-effective option. If the focus is to reduce energy costs, we must continue to look at things like lighting, heating, hot water, and cooling. We must continue to work with our suppliers to see what programs are best and have them continue to provide energy audits for schools. Solar installations have high up front costs, but reviewing program such as masstech.org they have several programs that can help defray up front costs. One idea to raise funds would be to initiate a campaign to residents to make green power purchases from National Grid, thereby increasing matching grants from Masstech for Medford. These funds could then be used for things like solar on schools. Details on the program here: http://masstech.org/CleanEnergyOrg/matching_grants.htm. Green Initiatives have become sexy and how we educate our students and community around this topic is leading by example.

Pompeo: (Q9) Green Initiatives

Current recycling efforts should be expanded. Recruit faculty volunteers and the custodial staff to work with parent volunteers.

Skerry: (Q9) Green Initiatives

• Instituted a 3 year phase in of a bio-degradeable paper products into our cafeterias replacing Styrofoam
• Encouraging recycling of all products in schools
• Eliminated oil as a fuel in the schools and went to a cleaner energy source namely natural gas
• Working on automatic shutdown (sleep mode) for all technology
• Encouraging conservation of electricity and fuel in all buildings
• Nighttime cleaning is done systematically so that entire floors can be shutdown in stage
• Retrofit all school buses to meet clean air standards. Instituted a no idling policy for buses and other vehicles near schools
• Exploring alternative energy sources at schools like the wind turbines at the McGlynn

The School Committee will work with all the staff, parents, students, and vendors to achieve the best results.