Healthy Schools Campaign Launches Inaugural Green Clean Schools Leadership Summit

Industry Experts Focus on the Future of Green Cleaning in Schools

Healthy Schools Campaign will host the first annual Green Clean Schools Leadership Summit, July 30-31, in Seattle, Wash. The summit is open to school facility managers, green cleaning experts and vendors from across the country interested in making schools healthier places for students and staff to learn and work. The focus of the summit is to envision the future of green cleaning in schools, with presentations from industry leaders who will address the advantages of green cleaning, as well as the common challenges, emerging issues and best practices.

“Through our Green Clean Schools program and our annual Green Cleaning Award for Schools & Universities we’ve been consistently amazed by new and exciting innovations in the green cleaning field,” said Mark Bishop, Healthy Schools Campaign’s vice president of policy. “The first annual Green Clean Schools Leadership Summit is a much-needed opportunity to bring together leaders from across the country to share their knowledge and experiences, tackle common challenges and take green cleaning in schools to the next level—for children’s health and for the environment.”

Each school day, more than 60 million students and staff attend our nation’s schools, representing 20 percent of the American population. Unfortunately, more than half may be exposed to polluted indoor air within their schools. A comprehensive green cleaning program can help reduce these harmful exposures, while at the same time being a cost-effective and efficient practice for facility managers and workers.

The two-day summit, held at the three-time Green Cleaning Award-winning University of Washington – Seattle, will feature the leading voices in green cleaning, including Steve Ashkin, founder and CEO of Sustainability Dashboard Tools and The Ashkin Group; Rachel Gutter, senior vice president of knowledge at the U.S. Green Building Council and director of the Center for Green Schools; founding members of Healthy Schools Campaign’s Green Clean Schools Leadership Council; and several other past winners of the Green Cleaning Award for Schools & Universities.

Discussion topics will include emerging issues in green cleaning, workforce management and training, green floor care and infection control, all with an eye toward the future of green cleaning. Summit attendees will also receive a behind-the-scenes look at the University of Washington’s award-winning green cleaning program led by Gene Woodward, Green Clean Schools Leadership Council member and the university’s director of building services.

Registration for the Green Clean Schools Leadership Summit is currently open, but space is limited. To learn more and to register, visit greencleanschools.org/summit.

Featured

  • Doerr School of Sustainability Accelerator

    From Concrete Warehouse to Innovation Hub: Accelerating Sustainability at Stanford

    The transformation of a once windowless, concrete publishing warehouse into a sun-drenched center for global innovation began with a single, fundamental challenge: how to turn an industrial storage shell into a space built for human connection.

  • California School District Completes Elementary School Modernization

    The San Diego Unified School District in San Diego, Calif., recently held a ribbon-cutting for a whole-site modernization of Pacific Beach Elementary School, according to local news. The school first opened with one building in 1930 and added six more between 1938 and 1957.

  • Harvard Announces Replacement Facility for Native American Program

    Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., recently announced that construction will begin this spring on a new home for its Native American Program, according to university news. The 6,500-square-foot, all-electric building will stand three stories and serve as the central hub for the Harvard University Native American Program (HUNAP).

  • El Paso District Breaks Ground on New Elementary School

    The Canutillo Independent School District in El Paso, Texas, recently announced that construction has begun on a 119,000-square-foot elementary school, according to a news release. The district partnered with Pfluger Architects, Carl Daniel Architects, and LDCM Solutions on the new Davenport Elementary School, which has an expected completion date of 2027.