“We are committed to lead by example. Discovery Magnet School is a model that provides a state-of-the-art facility in which our kids will learn and also a building and curriculum in which students interact with the environment and nature so they become environmental ambassadors for their kids and grandkids,” said Mayor Bill Finch. “We have great teachers teaching an innovative curriculum to motivated students in a green, healthy building.” – Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch
Bridgeport, Conn. (March 11, 2015) – Mayor Bill Finch this week unveiled the Interdistrict Discovery Magnet School on Park Avenue as the second LEED Gold certified school in the city as Bridgeport continues to lead the national charge advancing clean and sustainable energy sources and green building construction to reduce the city’s carbon footprint and give kids healthier air to breathe.
“We are committed to lead by example. Discovery Magnet School is a model that provides a state-of-the-art facility in which our kids will learn and also a building and curriculum in which students interact with the environment and nature so they become environmental ambassadors for their kids and grandkids,” said Mayor Bill Finch. “We have great teachers teaching an innovative curriculum to motivated students in a green, healthy building.”
In school terms, LEED is like a report card for buildings, demonstrating to the community that a facility is built and operated in a way that supports the health and well-being of occupants, its neighbors and saves energy, resources and money.
Fairchild Wheeler Interdistrict Magnet and the Discovery School, which are both Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) schools, are the first of five schools that will be LEED Gold certified as part of the City’s ambitious school construction program initiated under the leadership of Mayor Finch.
The program has created 3,000 jobs and, when completed, 13,000 city students will attend new or renovated schools.
Nearly $730 million has been invested in current, completed and future school construction projects. Once finished, more than half of Bridgeport kids will be attending new or renovated schools.
To achieve LEED certification, a facility must have “green” and sustainable construction and serve as a teaching tool for the children.
According to science teacher Mary Servino, Discovery as a STEM school focuses on sustainability. The school has a curriculum based on environmental education, a single-stream recycling program and an environmental club “so students can grow up and become leaders in helping clean up our environment.”
Servino said she is looking forward to the spring thaw since she conducts many of her lessons outside of the classroom so kids can experience “everything that is around this school and know how beautiful this area is.”
Principal Sangeeta Bella said Discovery School follows “a teaching model of ‘hands on, minds on.’ We are teaching the whole child, and that is what I find fun about this school.”
That includes outside lessons where kids identify species of trees and animal tracks in the property around the school.
“We need to be explorers and adventurers if we are going to be a science magnet school,” she said.
In addition to Fairchild Wheeler and Discover, Harding High School, Roosevelt and Longfellow schools are tracking to be LEED Gold certified.