Three schools win Oakland County Green School Excellence Award

Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson and Oakland Schools Superintendent Dr. Vickie Markavitch announced the winners of the Oakland County Green School Excellence Award at the 2011 OakGreen Summit on Monday. Oakland County's top environmentally responsible school is Royal Oak's Keller Elementary School. Royal Oak Middle School captured second. Walled Lake Central High School garnered third. "These schools are meeting the OakGreen Challenge by monitoring and reducing their water and energy usage," said Patterson. "I'm putting out the call to all those who have not taken my OakGreen Challenge yet to go to our website and participate." For additional information, go to www.oakgov.com/oakgreen, and click "Take the Challenge." In 2010, Patterson issued his OakGreen Challenge to Oakland County residents, businesses and governments to reduce their energy consumption 10% by the end of 2012. As part of the challenge, schools can compete to become the top environmentally responsible schools in the county. Of the 192 schools that participated, the top eight were judged on: * Percentage of school population involved in green activities. * The quality of work of their green activities. * The green issues addressed by their green activities. * How many groups are impacted by their green activity. * The uniqueness of their green activity. The 2011 OakGreen Summit was held Monday at the Oakland Schools building in Waterford. The summit focused on the role of local governments in buildings and fleet energy efficiency, renewable energy planning and zoning, plug-in vehicle readiness, building energy codes, water economy and reducing vehicle miles traveled. Published: Thu, May 19, 2011