Captain James E. Daly Elementary School has been selected as a recipient of the 2019 U.S. Green Ribbon Schools Award. Daly is among 35 winning schools from across the nation.

The Green Ribbon Schools Award program, established in 2011, is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) and recognizes schools recognizes schools for their innovative efforts to save energy, reduce costs, feature environmentally sustainable learning spaces, protect health, foster wellness and offer environmental education to boost academic achievement and community engagement.

“This recognition speaks to our commitment to developing environmentally and socially conscious students by providing opportunities for them to make positive impacts on the local and global community,” said Superintendent Dr. Jack R. Smith.  “Congratulations to the staff and students of Capt. James E. Daly Elementary School on receiving this award.”

Daly students and staff focus on energy conservation, reusing and recycling, water conservation, and living healthy lives in harmony with the environment, while simultaneously teaching and learning environmental education through formal and informal instruction.  Daly was first certified a Maryland Green School in 2012 and recertified in 2016.  The school now is working on its second recertification, due in 2020.  The school celebrates an annual Earth Day Fair and it is the recipient of multiple awards for energy conservation and recycling. 

Ninety percent of Daly staff has participated in professional development in environmental and sustainable education, including Project WET, Project WILD, and Project Learning Tree.  The environmental field is well represented during an annual career day.

Daly has one of the strongest and largest school-based School Energy and Recycling Team (SERT) groups among all elementary schools in MCPS, which consists of 40 fourth- and fifth-grade students and is led by a school counselor and the building service manager.  While all schools in MCPS have school-based SERTs, Daly consistently has had the largest and most active school-based team.  Green team student leaders wear SERT aprons and go through the building collecting recyclable products.  They visit classrooms to teach other students about proper recycling, post signs about water conservation, and recycle crayons.  Annually, SERT students visit the local recycling center to witness the full process of recycling.  Students come back to school highly motivated to continue their efforts.

Daly collaborates with the Audubon Naturalist Society, which provides an afterschool environmental club, called Unplug and Play, and assists with the salad table instruction for second-grade students.  Another partner, Manna Food, a local food bank, sends a special bus to Daly school a few times a year to teach nutrition and present healthy recipes to students and their families.  An important partner for Hispanic students at Daly is Identity, from which students receive assistance with academics, including environmental literacy.

Representatives from the winning schools will participate in a national awards ceremony on September 25, 2019 at the U.S. Department of Commerce Auditorium, in DC.

Read the U.S. Department of Education Release