FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 20, 2023

Cabrillo Unified School District Now Formally Designated as a

2023 California Green Ribbon School District Sustainability Honoree

On April 20, 2023, we received the good news that Cabrillo Unified School District has now been recognized for its environmental literacy and sustainability work. CUSD is proud to have now been formally designated as a 2023 California Green Ribbon School District Sustainability Honoree. After several years of school and district actions to operate in a more environmentally sustainable manner, CUSD now has been recognized for these actions with Silver Level recognition, joining a select group of other California districts who have been similarly acknowledged for state recognition of their efforts.

In our 2023 California Green Ribbon School District application, CUSD highlighted the work done over recent years to honor and respect the Coastside environment in numerous new ways. These actions have included the following milestones: establishing school gardens on all our elementary school campuses through our increased partnership with The HEAL Project; supporting and expanding upon our existing career technical education pathway in Agricultural Science that now has a throughline through middle school grades; installing new and expanded solar power generation infrastructure at both Hatch Elementary School and Cunha Intermediate School; piloting and standardizing waste sorting at our schools to provide three-bin sorting for composting, recycling, and trash; adoption of district-wide conservation efforts to lessen water and electricity use; creation of a sustainability dashboard to make data on energy use and conservation available; and regular meetings of students, staff, and community partners in a Board-convened CUSD Environmental Sustainability Committee.

CUSD is proud to have now received this competitive California Green Ribbon School District award. Now we will continue the actions that have won us this recognition as well as strive to set new goals ahead that can help make our district, our schools, and our local Coastside community greener and more environmentally responsible places to live. CUSD thanks our many partners for their years of support in this work, including San Mateo County Office of Education, San Mateo County Office of Sustainability, The HEAL Project, Peninsula Clean Energy, Flows to the Bay, Republic Services, and the many students and staff who work daily to learn more about our natural world and take steps to protect it. As we work to celebrate and remember Earth Day 2023, please know CUSD is very grateful to have now been named a 2023 California Green Ribbon School District Sustainability Honoree.