Ann Arbor Schools Launch Environmental Sustainability Task Force

The Ann Arbor Public Schools (AAPS) is celebrating Earth Day 2021 and the district’s long-standing commitment to the environment with the creation of the Environmental Sustainability Task Force, charged with developing and recommending a sustainability plan.  This plan will guide the AAPS in living out its organizational and community commitment to environmental sustainability.

The Board of Education unanimously approved the creation of the task force early this morning.

The focus of the AAPS Environmental Sustainability Task Force is to advise the AAPS Board of Education on a formal sustainability plan that will support achieving the goal of environmental sustainability, guide adjustments in operations, advise on AAPS capital improvement planning, and other district endeavors related to sustainability.

Bryan Johnson, President of the Board of Education, shares, “the work of this AAPS Environmental Sustainability Task Force builds on a long history of environmental leadership in the community, bringing together environmental leaders in a focused effort to advise the Board of Education in documenting a sustainability roadmap for our school community, empowering this and future generations in Ann Arbor to succeed in an uncertain climate change future.”

Superintendent Swift adds, “with the launch of this Environmental Task Force, we extend an enduring tradition of excellence in environmental education for our students. Rich learning experiences, such as winter survival, continue to shape our students as keepers of Planet Earth, early childhood through graduation, and for their lives. The Environmental Sustainability Task Force will actualize the commitment of the AAPS so that sustainability is not only the goal in all district decisions and operations but becomes our lived reality in this Ann Arbor Community.”

This task force will move the district forward in its commitment to sustainability in alignment with AAPS Board of Education Environmental Sustainability Policy (Policy 8000) approved in 2018.

This policy states:

• Climate change is real, increasing and caused by human activity,

• The Ann Arbor community is committed to practices that support a healthy environment for present and future generations,

• The AAPS district has a responsibility to help prepare current and future generations to respond to climate change through the reduction of harmful human activities, the promotion of human activities that restore the environment, and the development of strategies to adapt to climate change

The AAPS Environmental Sustainability Task Force will engage with community environmental leaders, local climate change and sustainability experts, including local community members and Trustee Liaisons representing the AAPS Board of Education, supported by professional staff.