Green School Application

The Green School process provides a mission and resources to support what individual teachers want to teach in their classrooms, what custodial staff want to do with the recycling program, and what students and parents are not able to accomplish individually.

– Riderwood Elementary School, Baltimore County.

The Maryland Green School Award lasts for four years. Schools apply after doing the required green activities for at least two years. Schools re-certify twice, and then after their third consecutive re-certification become a Sustainable Maryland Green School. This amounts to a fourteen year process, showing that your school’s environmental culture is enduring.

Application Index / Quick Links

Important Dates:

  • December 16, 2016: Deadline for Submission of Intent To Apply Fee and Form.
  • March 17, 2017: Application Deadline for Green Schools applying in 2016-2017.
  • Youth Summit Award Ceremony: May 18th, 2017. (More information to come)

Green School Application Requirements:

For New and Recertifying Schools:

Back to Application Index

For Sustainable Schools:

  • Intent to Apply Fee- Must pay by December 16, 2016. Please click here to fill out your Intent to Apply.
  • Cover Sheet: Please fill this out and submit with your application. This document needs original principal signature to be accepted. No electronic signatures.
  • Brief summary: In your application please give a brief background about your school including a brief description of your school’s green culture and significant changes that the school has made.
  • Brief Goal Summary: In your application, please outline your 4 year, 8 year, and 12 year green school goals. For more details please see the sustainable school application.
  • Metrics Collection: This replaces other past methods of documenting. Please enter your data and a brief summary of your “Top Five” accomplishments here. For guidelines on the top five, please see the application guide. Do you want to know what is on the Metrics Survey? Here is the Metrics Survey PDF. The data collected must be submitted online though. Green School and Green Center metric surveys are different, please make sure you use the correct one.
  • Documented Application Objectives: See Application Guide for details.

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2016-2017 Application Guides for Green Schools:

Newly Certifying, 1st and 2nd Recertification

Application Guide

This application is for schools who are new or recertifying to become a Green School.

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 Newly Certifying, 1st and 2nd Recertification: Special Needs Schools

Application Guide

This application is for schools whose population of students have special needs.

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Newly Certifying, 1st and 2nd Recertification: Pre-K Schools

Application Guide

This application is for schools whose population of students are in Pre-Kindergarten.

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Sustainable Schools (Third Recertification)

Application Guide

This application is for schools who have applied to be a green school more than three consecutive times.

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Getting Started: Step by Step Guide (including timeline dates)

  1. Put together a Green School Committee.This committee can include teachers, students, administrators, parents or other staff.  This will make it easier for you to put the application together. At the first meeting evaluate what you have in place and what you need to plan.  There is a Green Schools Pre-Assessment that is available to determine where your school is in the processes. (September/October of Year 1)
  2. MAEOE Green School Training.  Consider attending one of these trainings which will teach you about the application, the program and the process.  The training sign-ups can be found on the home page or the Green Schools Application Page. (Fall of Year 1)
  3. Set up a File Sharing System in your school to share documents/information. For example the school sharing drive, a google drive, etc. (Fall of Year 1)
  4. Arrange a school wide meeting with all staff to discuss step 3 and to inform all staff on the Green School process (take pictures, have all teachers sign in, include agenda, etc.). This is for documenting section 1.2.1 of the application. (Fall of Year 1)
  5. Contact local support:
    1. Green Center.  Green Centers and Green Leaders are established to help provide local support for schools interested in becoming green schools.  The list of green centers can be found at http://maeoe.org/green-centers-list/
    2. Further support. If you still believe you may need further assistance contact greenschools@maeoe.org who can contact a Green Leaders to see if any are available to mentor you.
  6. Have a school wide celebration celebrating being Green. This can occur during spirt week, Earth Day, Arbor Day, or you can pick a day! (Throughout the fall/winter/spring of Year 1 or can occur in fall/winter/spring of year 2).
  7. Have a minimum of 10% of your teachers attend environmental education professional development. There are many opportunities for staff to receive EE PD. Check out the MAEOE calendar (maeoe.org/maeoe-calendar) for more details on EE PD like MAEOE Conference, Monarch Workshops, Project Wild/Wet, Project Learning Tree, Green Eggs and Sand, etc. (Throughout the fall/ winter/spring/summer of Year 1 and Year 2.)
  8. Set-up the template or use one of ours to allow you to populate the application throughout the year. We recommend an online format such as a free website, Prezi or Power Point. At a fall staff meeting, have a Green School update. (Early Fall Year 2)
  9. Check in with your local Green Center/Green Leader. If you are meeting in person, bring with you what you have so that they can look it over and give you feedback. (Fall Year 2)
  10. Fully populate Objective 1.1 in your application. (November Year 2)
  11. Turn in your intent to apply by December deadline. Fully populate Objective 1.2 and 1.4 by winter break (December Year 2).
  12. Fully populate Objective 2 (End of January Year 2).
  13. Attend the MAEOE conference for Mock Review Session of your application. MAEOE conference can count towards 1.2.2 of your application. If you cannot attend the conference consider sitting down with your Green Leader or Green Center to do a one-on-one Application review. DO NOT LEAVE THIS UNTIL MARCH. Green Leaders are busy people too, so the earlier you can meet with them, the more time and feedback they can give you. (February of Year 2)
  14. Fully populate Objective 3. (February of Year 2)
  15. Complete final touches of your application and turn in your application. (March of year 2)
  16. Results of your application will be returned to you. (April year 2)

 Finding Support for the Application Process:

Back to Application Index

Green School Application Reviewing:

Each application that we receive is reviewed three times and we need your help. Please consider volunteering to do this. If you have never reviewed applications, there will be a brief training on site the day of your review.

– Please be sure to bring lunch and, if possible, a laptop.
– All applications are electronic
– The review session are usually from 9AM – 3PM. You are not obligated to stay for an entire 6 hour session. Simply sign up for a specific date and stay as long as you are able.
– There will be snacks and coffee.

3/23: Thomas Claggett Teacher Leadership Center, 2001 Addison Rd S., District Heights, MD 20747

3/24: Chesapeake Community College, Higher Education Center, RM 115: 1000 College Cir, Wye Mills, MD 21679

3/27: Black Hill Nature Center: 20926 Lake Ridge Dr, Boyds, MD 20841

3/28: Arlington Echo: 975 Indian Landing Rd, Millersville, MD 21108

3/29: MAEOE’s Office: 10015 Old Columbia Rd, Columbia, MD 21046
(There will be a 5:30-8:30 reviewing session too)

3:30: Masonville Cove Environmental Ed Center: 1000 Frankfurst Ave, Baltimore

4/3: Ward Museum: 909 S Schumaker Dr, Salisbury, MD 21804

Sign up here to help review Green School applications!