Bentonville considering going ‘green’ with second high school
Posted on Tuesday, February 26, 2008
BENTONVILLE - A committee working to develop Bentonville's second high school wants the building to be as "green" - environmentally friendly - as the school district can afford.
The committee, which met for nearly two hours Monday night to discuss preliminary plans for the school, also talked about what the term "sustainability"means. Sustainability speaks to how "green," or environmentally friendly and energy efficient, a building is, the committee learned.
State building codes only address life / safety issues, but the school district, if it were to make an effort to have a "green"high school, could improve the quality of the school's learning environment, said Ken Graham, an architect with DLR Group, an architectural firm known for its high-school designs. DLR is working with the school district's architects, Hight-Jackson and Associates. The district could also save money in the long run by building a more-energyefficient school, he said.
"It's easy to do the status quo. It's easy to keep doing what we're doing," he said. "Is your goal for students to get a C and just graduate, or is your goal for them to get A's and B's and really excel ?"
Graham agreed that it costs more to build a "green"school but that the costs are recouped through energycost savings. He then asked the group what level they wanted to go with greening up the school.
Graham spoke briefly about levels of certification through the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design organization. Committee members agreed that they want to make the second high school as energy efficient and environmentally friendly as possible.
The committee then discussed a summary from its meeting two weeks ago when the group discussed the various concepts and attributes members want in the new school, citing equity, efficiency and technology as top issues.
The next meeting will be at 5: 30 p.m. March 10 at the Tiger Athletic Complex Multipurpose Building.
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