We have been wanting to speak with Superintendent Linus Guillory for the past few GreenZine editions to get a better sense of Brookline’s sustainability initiatives. We asked him a few questions regarding curriculum, gardening, transportation, facilities, food service and waste in our school system.

A recent study by the North American Environmental Education Association (NAEEA) found that about 50% of students struggle with climate change induced anxiety, and 75% of teachers acknowledge that climate change will have an enormous impact on student’s futures.

Climate anxiety is prevalent in schools all over the world, and Brookline is not exempt from this. Because of this, we wanted to foster an open conversation about the intersection between students and climate change, allowing for constructive critique and greater visibility of our school system’s measures.

We spoke to Superintendent Guillory in late May and included excerpts of our conversation below, followed by our thoughts.

GreenZine: Realistically speaking, on Brookline’s priority list, where are sustainability issues?

Dr. Guillory: It’s definitely in the top 10. A big thing that’s happening right now is in the design of our buildings. As we’re bringing new buildings online you’re seeing more energy efficient materials going into these buildings. So when you look at 22 Tappan, rather than having lights burning all day, we have all of this access for natural light – there’s a lot of intentionality around those aspects of it.

You will notice that in the K8 schools there’s quite a bit of energy that’s going into the notion of composting and teaching kids about gardening. We are laying out these tracks that we are hoping will now come together so that by the time students get to high school they all are very efficient with those processes and understanding.

GreenZine: We did some past research on the new [School Committee Sustainability] task force. What are your goals for it?

Dr. Guillory: The next step is to be more organized around the work, and I think that’s what this task force is looking to do there. We certainly want to be contributors, and when I look at all the fascinating work that’s happening around town my thought is: how can we make this unified?

It shouldn’t be schools doing something, and the town doing something in the duplication of effort, it’s how can we have everyone moving as one unified force. I think that would be my ideal state, so that when you go home you are living and breathing what you learned in school so that it is seamless. 

GreenZine: What have you done or what do you need to do to provide Brookline students with the tools to handle a new modern world with unprecedented challenges?

Dr. Guillory: Right now there are pockets of this happening all around the system. One way that we’ve been sharing what’s going on around the district is through the school committee spotlights on excellence, where schools sign up to share some of the work that’s happening. And then that affords other teachers the opportunities to look at that and partner with one another. And that’s been actually a great addition to the school committee meetings themselves. 

GreenZine: We know teachers who are individually running clubs with very little funding from the district. Would you support their funding and how will you work with them?

Dr. Guillory: That’s actually something the office of teaching and learning is actually talking about: how do we standardize those supports? So that’s on our to-do list. 

GreenZine: What are the rules behind interpreting required state curriculum within a district? Is there a place for climate change [in] classes other than in science?

Dr. Guillory: It’s not that every kid in the state is getting the same exact curriculum, it’s that everyone is working to the same standards, and the manner in which districts approach teaching those standards varies. As we look to continuously modernize our curricular experiences, we are preparing students for something that doesn’t really exist. The experiences of kids coming behind you are going to be very different from the experiences you had. I do think there is this notion of how to globalize all of our curriculum materials and be more intentional about that, so that work is also on the horizon as well. 

GreenZine: As students we feel like we are out of the loop. How can we improve transparency, to improve awareness, and also decrease student anxiety?

Dr. Guillory: Let me think about that. I would kick the question back to you all – what might be the types of information that would be helpful? How can we pull you all into that so that you can then cascade that information and share it? I think that’s where the partnership is. Not just looking at me as superintendent. 

We greatly appreciated the time Dr. Guillory spent with us. We were able to get some insights into how much climate change is a priority in our school district, and as students, we have some concerns.

We didn’t know that natural light was a major design objective in the building at 22 Tappen, which brought up further discussion on how the school system can be more transparent about measures concerning efficiency. Dr. Gillory told us to check out the 22 Tappan website for more information about its eco-friendly building process, and later on we found this site.

To put it mildly, we were underwhelmed. The website is not nearly as in depth as we think it should be; concerned students who want to know about the sustainability of 22 Tappan will be hard pressed to have easy access to that information online. This is absolutely something Brookline should be celebrating and making easily accessible!

Regarding curriculum, It seems like Dr. Guillory’s vision is there, but the logistics of implementing new curricula were not specific enough to seem like a change was actually being made. Dr. Guillory applauded teachers taking self-initiative, meaning efforts towards sustainability aren’t supported or standardized by the school district. Teachers already have too much on their plate, curriculum efforts should be something supported by the district. 

Educational standards are looser than we would have imagined, and Dr. Guilory explained how districts do actually have a lot of freedom in what they teach. Brookline prides itself as a progressive learning community and should definitely be taking advantage of this and take greater strides to improve awareness of sustainability within our curriculum.

If the Office of Teaching and Learning really is increasing support for teachers to develop sustainability curriculum we would like this process to be more transparent. We know passionate, hard working teachers who are working overtime and running huge climate change projects with little district support or funding. They deserve more help and recognition.

We came away from the interview with the impression that Dr. Guillory does have a sustainability vision for the Brookline Public Schools that is a unified front against global climate change, though it appears to lack urgency for curriculum development, teacher training, and student engagement. Our conclusion is unfortunate, but not surprising. Responsibility is left to students and teachers to work in partnership to lead for change. Just like climate change issues in politics today, we are once again let down by an establishment that claims to care. We must be the ones to take initiative because, in the end, it’s our future. 

We thank Dr. Guillory for taking time out of his day to discuss these important matters and help us understand a broader scope of what’s happening in our district.

Elena Nikovski and Hattie Liang are Co-Editors of Greenzine and are both in the 11th grade at Brookline High School. GreenZine Brookline is a privately-funded, volunteer-run online magazine created for the PSB Brookline K-12 students and community.