11/01/2011

Darrow School has announced the public phase of “growing.greener,” a $2.5 million initiative aimed at funding a wide array of projects, all of which will contribute to the School’s long-range sustainability goals. Launched by the Board of Trustees in May 2010, growing.greener will help Darrow ensure a strong fiscal future, with a structurally sound, energy-efficient, historic campus, and an improved quality of life and education for students and faculty. On October 14, 2011, Darrow closed the quiet phase of the campaign, with more than 58 percent (approximately $1.4 million) already raised.

“At Darrow, we are always focused on preserving the historic character of our beautiful campus,” said Head of School Nancy Wolf. “We take that stewardship charge quite seriously. But the very things that lend it that character—the mountainside setting, the landmark structures, and the Shaker heritage—also make it challenging to operate a modern school.”

A National Historic Landmark, Darrow is the only school in the nation located on the site of a historic Shaker Village. Its students, teachers, and staff work, live, and study in many original Shaker buildings constructed in the 19th century, structures that were never designed for electricity, heating, indoor plumbing, or other modern necessities. “These old buildings were not built with energy in mind and that results in huge inefficiencies, ” said John Gratiot, chair of the growing.greener Committee, a member of the Darrow School Board of Trustees, and a 1968 graduate of the School. “We’re talking about compromised foundations and basements, deteriorating exterior walls and roofs, warped woodwork and window frames, and numerous other threats to the operation of the School’s physical plant.”

“The Shakers didn’t have to grapple with things like high fuel costs, thermal bridging, complex computer networks, or the many other challenges we face daily in making Darrow a healthy and comfortable educational environment,” said Gratiot, an engineer by profession. “Historic preservation is also sustainable development. It means more than just renovating a space or retrofitting some mechanical equipment. It means ensuring that these facilities will be able to grow as Darrow grows, so that future generations will be able to enjoy its celebrated beauty while living and working in a contemporary school environment that can fully meet their needs. And it means securing financial viability so that we can showcase Darrow as a model of thinking, learning, and living sustainably.”

The growing.greener initiative isn’t Darrow’s first long-range plan to implement a sustainable solution to a physical problem. Responding to the needs of an aging septic system in the ‘90s, Darrow constructed the nation’s only secondary-school-operated wastewater treatment plant, called the Living Machine, which began operation in 1998. Located in the Samson Environmental Center, the Living Machine treats all the campus’s wastewater and returns it to the water table in pristine condition, making a positive contribution to a healthier Hudson River watershed. The Living Machine’s inclusion in the school’s program of study has brought Darrow national recognition for its environmental education curriculum, and attracts hundreds of visitors each year. That solution, Wolf notes, was more than just a short-term repair job to fix an urgent problem; it was a long-range solution that not only resolved an immediate dilemma but moved the school’s mission forward and greatly enriched the community as a whole. With growing.greener, she said, Darrow has another opportunity to implement a far-sighted solution to the pressing needs it faces today.

“The growing.greener initiative is an innovative investment strategy,” said Gratiot. “It is focused on substantially improving three key areas—human, economic, and environmental sustainability. We are investing in those elements of Darrow’s physical and academic environment that will preserve the school’s mission and values, while nurturing its evolution as a 21st-century school. It’s a triple bottom line, with a win-win-win objective.”
Projects funded by the initiative, Gratiot said, will provide a substantial return on the initial investments being made through growing.greener. Some of these projects, such as improved heating systems, insulation, and storm windows, have already had a positive impact on the school’s energy expenses, and will especially improve outcomes in the coming winter. Others, such as “greening” the transportation fleet through the purchase of energy-efficient school buses and vans, upgrading technology for students and teachers, and building endowment, will pay dividends for many years and decades to come.

The total $2.5 million objective is allocated into five key areas:

• Conservation and Preservation ($1,400,000): Conserve and preserve natural and physical resources to improve quality of life for faculty and students, while simultaneously reducing operating costs and our carbon footprint

• Transportation ($270,000): Upgrade transportation, reducing per-mile costs, lessening environmental impact, and better meeting programmatic needs

• Program and Faculty ($200,000): Enhance learning and teaching through curriculum development, faculty support, improved technology, and ongoing attention to the student experience.

• Marketing ($130,000): Develop marketing tools and materials that will strengthen branding and recruitment strategies to meet enrollment goals, attract quality educators, and engage alumni and others with the School.

• Endowment ($500,000): Increase the endowment fund to ensure financial sustainability and allow for consistent reinvestment in environmental and human resources.

“The growing.greener initiative is already having a clear and substantial impact on Darrow,” Gratiot said. “Now we are asking our friends, families, and community to partner with us, so that we can not only honor our Shaker legacy of stewardship of natural resources, innovative problem solving, and purposeful work, but also teach future generations of Darrow students to create and implement fresh approaches to sustainability efforts. Darrow School is growing, and its future has never looked brighter.”

For information on donating to the initiative, contact Alexandra Heddinger, Director of Advancement, at 518-794-6007.