The U.S. Department of Education has presented two more Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) with Green Ribbon School status for their commitment to sustainable practices and environmental education.
Clement Avenue School and Starms Early Childhood are the honorees, joining Lincoln Avenue School, which was the first MPS school to earn the distinction.
At Clement Avenue, 3666 S. Clement Ave., playground concrete and asphalt was replaced with green space and trees and other plantings. A rainwater filter and outdoor classroom space were added.
Clement Avenue also put in a traffic circle ad is the first MPS school to implement bike training for students.
Over at Starms Early Childhood, 2616 W. Garfield Ave., the playground was renovated creating green space and installing equipment to aid in environmental education.
An outdoor classroom with seating and tables was also created.
"The 2021 U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon School award is a tremendous credit to the staff and students at Clement Avenue and Starms Early Childhood who have developed and implemented sustainable practices while engaging in the learning process," said MPS Superintendent Dr. Keith P. Posley.
Environmental educators, we see you! ð
No matter what subject you teach, you are raising awareness and appreciation for protecting nature.
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Thank you for teaching about our environment and how students play a role in it. #ThankYouThursday pic.twitter.com/AkhmRIJk2r — U.S. Department of Education (@usedgov) April 22, 2021
"Milwaukee Public Schools takes pride in the innovative works that help put our young people on the path of stewardship. We commend all our schools that promote the importance of our environment through education."
Lieutenant Gov. Mandela Barnes will get a tour of the changes at Clement Avenue School with Posley on Friday morning as part of a press conference.
MPS has been working with a number of organizations in recent years to green school grounds all around the city.
Read more about those efforts here and here. And read about a historic plan more than a century ago.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
