 |
| CHPS Launches New Verification Program for Schools | |||
CHPS is excited to announce its latest program offering for schools: CHPS Verified. CHPS Verified is a green school building program that combines project management, the CHPS building Criteria and a third-party assessment to ensure that a school project is designed and built to the highest performance standards. A school that is recognized as CHPS Verified is healthier, more environmentally efficient and cost-saving, and has been verified by an independent, third-party to be so. CHPS Verified also works conveniently with incentive funding (e.g. Proposition 1D in California). The CHPS Verification Program will help design teams manage the design and documentation process with tools for project oversight, plan review and other resources. The Verification Program User Guide is available online and outlines design and construction review requirements and what each registered project will receive. All project tracking and review will be done online. |
 |
||
CHPS began as a self-certification building rating program, referred to as CHPS Designed. With the introduction of CHPS Verified, project managers will now have a choice for which building rating program to employ as they move through the pre-design process. CHPS offers both programs to allow flexibility in compliance. CHPS realizes that school districts face multiple challenges in building design and construction, such as student population growth, demand for improved student performance, and social and financial constraints. Project teams should consider a variety of issues when deciding between CHPS Verified and CHPS Designed. CHPS Designed is ideal for a school districts or design team’s first attempt at using the CHPS Criteria, for implementing the Criteria late in a project or for school districts with limited need for an independent project review. The program relies on a project scorecard that helps design teams manage the points that they are claiming, and can be used to designate responsible team members and track compliance with credits. CHPS Designed is free to participate in and primary accountability rests on the school district and design team for ensuring the CHPS Criteria have been met. Over twenty CHPS Designed schools have been completed. CHPS Verified is ideal for school districts or design teams seeking to verify their project’s performance. Participation will give design teams access to project management tools, and will assist in obtaining incentive funding (e.g. California’s Proposition 1D). Accountability will rest not only on the school district and design team but also on CHPS and an assigned independent reviewer. Click here to learn more about CHPS Verified. |
|||
| Online registration has opened for CHPS' 2007 Greentools for Healthy Schools Conference. This conference is intended for those involved in the design, operation and construction of school facilities. The conference is an opportunity for attendees to learn about and discuss the future of greener, healthier schools. The Greentools for Healthy Schools conference and expo aims to make high performance schools a feasible, affordable reality for school districts across the nation. |  |
||
The conference, which will take place on September 27 in San Francisco, CA, will feature the CHPS Green Apple Awards, which will award the best of the best in high performance school building; a high profile keynote speaker; two tracks of educational workshops throughout the day and a high performance products and services exposition and reception. Click here to REGISTER TODAY! |
|||
Call for Workshop Proposals The 2007 conference committee is now accepting unique proposals for educational workshops that will provide school districts and design teams with the “tools” to build and operate high performance schools. Proposals are due May 15, 2007. Click here to download the proposal form. |
|||
| Time is Running Out! Apply for a High Performance Relocatable Grant | |||
CHPS is proud to release a high performance relocatable grant program to encourage the manufacturing and purchasing of high performing relocatable classrooms in California school districts. The grant program will offer six $3,500 grants to offset the cost of building to the high performance specifications listed in the 2006 Edition of Volume VI of the CHPS Best Practices Manual on Relocatable Classrooms. You can download a copy of Volume VI here, and you can download a grant application by clicking here. Applications are due by May 1, 2007. |
|||
| CHPS & GREENGUARD Work Together to Support Green Schools | |||
Schools will find searching for low-emitting building materials even easier with a new agreement that’s been finalized between CHPS and the GREENGUARD Environmental Institute (GEI). Since 2002 CHPS has promoted healthy indoor environments for school children through, among many things, low-emitting materials credit in its scorecard for school design and construction. The criteria for the CHPS credit is based on the State of California’s Department of Health Services (DHS) Standard Practice for Testing Volatile Organic Emissions (i.e. CA Section 01350-IAQ). This standard uniquely limits individual chemical emission releases from building materials to health based limits to safeguard occupants from adverse indoor exposures. To assist users, CHPS maintains a list of materials that are eligible for the CHPS low emitting materials credit that meet these criteria on its website and most recently has signed an agreement with GREENGUARD establishing the Greenguard Children and Schools Testing Method as an acceptable alternative to the DHS Standard Practice for credit eligibility provided that the provisions in the agreement are met. According to GEI this agreement will allow the approximately 30,000 products that are recognized under the GREENGUARD Children & SchoolsSM Product Certification Program to be accessed by CHPS users. Under this new agreement, products in the GREENGUARD Children & Schools Product Certification Program that have been tested according to the GREENGUARD Method and meet the provisions of the Agreement are eligible for CHPS credit.* (See note below) . Both organizations are committed to the agreement and feel that this cooperation will create easier access and availability to products that will improve schools’ learning environments. "The addition of GREENGUARD Children & Schools Certified Products provides design professionals and school administrators a broader selection of healthier, more environmentally sensitive products for their schools," said Charles Eley, Executive Director of CHPS. "Including GEI in our efforts furthers our mission by providing products that have been certified through a comprehensive and rigorous program." The GREENGUARD Children & Schools Product Certification Program was launched to provide K-12 school facilities clear guidance on selecting products that have been rigorously tested for chemical emissions. "GEI was founded on the premise that environments in which we live and breathe must be healthier and more sustainable," said Carl Smith, GEI's CEO. "Schools, where our children spend much of their time, must be at the top of our list of environmental priorities." [*Note: CHPS credits are offered for the GREENGUARD certified products that meet the testing method requirements and emission limits defined in the Agreement between CHPS and GEI (full agreement is posted here). GREENGUARD testing methods and criteria outside of the scope of this Agreement, including testing for total VOCs, phthalates, total particles, and criteria for iVOCs with no CRELs, have not been evaluated and are not endorsed by CHPS or CDHS. For more information about CHPS, log onto www.chps.net or call 877-642-CHPS.] |
|||
| Celebrate National Healthy Schools Day with Us on April 30th | |||
On April 30, 2007 take a moment to celebrate National Healthy Schools Day. National Healthy Schools Day is an opportunity to support every child’s right to learn in a school that is environmentally safe and healthy and that is clean and in good repair. “Children are most vulnerable to environmental hazards, and when schools are in poor condition on the outside they often have indoor environmental problems that affect health and learning,” says Claire Barnett, Executive Director from the Healthy Schools Network. The Healthy Schools Network with its partners have organized events all across the country on April 30th to “support and promote healthy school environments for children and school personnel” says Deborah Klein, President of the American Public Healthy Association. |
 |
||
What is happening in California to Celebrate? There will be a celebration at a “CHPS Designed” school in Los Angeles Unified School District, Charles H. Kim Elementary. The event will include speakers from CHPS, U.S. EPA, California Department of Health Services, and Office of Public School Construction and more. In addition, attendees will be guided on a tour of this high performance school to showcase its many healthy and sustainable features. Join us at 10:00a.m. at Charles H. Kim at 225 South Oxford Ave. Los Angeles 90004. The California School Board Association and Green Schools Initiative are hosting a free webinar on what it means to be a “green” school and what it takes to create environments that are healthy places to learn in. Click here to participate. |
|||
| CHPS in the News | |||
CHPS in the News
|
|||
| CHPS Welcomes Two New Board Members | |||
| At their March 2007 meeting, the CHPS Board of Directors voted that Steve Castellanos and Kelvin Lee fill the two remaining open seats on the CHPS Board. Mr. Castellanos brings to the Board more than 26 years of experience in building design and construction and has served as State Architect under the appointment of Governor Gray Davis. In this role he acted as California’s policy leader for building design and construction as well as providing design and construction oversight for K-12 schools. He currently serves as the National Secretary on the AIA Board of Directors and has served as the California Regional AIA Director. |
Steve Castellanos |
Kelvin Lee |
|
Mr. Castellanos is looking forward to serving on the board as he believes that the “investment our nation makes in public education is significant and is expressed in teaching and books, as well as in bricks and mortar. Buildings can teach, they can influence and they can support learning. Buildings, as well, can house us all in a way that heals. CHPS allows us to learn from our collective experience in a way that promotes learning, community and the environment." Mr. Lee brings to the board a unique perspective as he has served as a teacher for 7 years in the State of California and has served as a Superintendent for 29 years at Dry Creek Joint Elementary District (a CHPS District). About his appointment to the Board he said, "I am proud to join the board of CHPS, the leader in high performance school design. I will contribute my efforts to expanding the influence of CHPS in school districts throughout our State." |
|||
| Introducing CHPS' Newest Members | |||
CHPS appreciates our members' commitment to improving the learning environments for school children, and welcomes the following organizations and individuals to its membership: |
|||
California Air Resources Board |
Karen Kelly (Individual) |
||
Ecom Engineering, Inc. |
Magnaray International |
||
Executive Environmental Services Corporation |
Nicols, Melburg & Rossetto, Architects and Engineers |
||
Healthy Buildings International, Inc. |
Powersmiths International Corporation |
||
Intergy Corporation |
Smith System, Inc. |
||
View our entire membership list and learn about the benefits of joining online at: http://www.chps.net/membership/index.htm |
|||
Quick links: CHPS Rating Programs | CHPS Membership | CHPS Best Practices Manual |
|||
|
Get the word out about greener, healthier schools: please forward this to a friend or colleague. |
|||
