Team Green: Visiting Environmental Charter High School

Environmental Charter High School (ECHS) is a small campus nestled in a cozy Lawndale neighborhood of single-family homes. The blue and white bungalows and buildings are decorated with inspiring slogans like “I am my own super hero.” In several locations trash, recycling and compost bins are brightly painted with signs that distinguish one from another. The few friendly security guards roam around campus and seemed relaxed in the alternative high school atmosphere.
Our group met with Sara who works with the Green Ambassadors program and has previously taught at ECHS for six years. The program team members share a small narrow office where they work and run the program. The Green Ambassadors program is housed at ECHS and teaches the required environmental course for 10th graders. Two of the team members, Gabriel and Sandra are paid by L.A. Trade Tech College, so when taking the course students receive college credit. Although Green Ambassadors is at ECHS they receive a lot of press for their program and seek outside sources for funding.
In our discussion of how to best approach participants for our film Sara suggested that we present our project at a Monday morning teacher’s meeting. Additionally, she added that it’s best to prepare questionnaires for the teachers to fill out so we can assess whether they will be interested in us talking to them or their students. This strategy can help with building relationships with several teachers, so they can feel more comfortable with us visiting their classrooms and working with them. Sara did share that some of the faculty felt neglected because their program receives so much attention. So, she suggested it would be a good idea to possibly focus on a department or particular discipline to assure that we get a well-rounded look at the campus and what is offered at the school.
As we continued to discuss the program and school some issues came up that we had not considered or even discussed as a group before the meeting. During our meeting Sara mentioned that they (the program and the school) wanted access to sound bytes from the completed film to use in other media outlets. They can be used to promote the high school as well as the Green Ambassadors program, yet we hadn’t worked out our contract with the school or program participants. They seemed excited about our interest in wanting to cover the school and program, yet I felt like if we as a group didn’t tighten up our focus soon we could possibly be persuaded to cover the stories and events that they viewed as important.
That was a challenge for me. Are we supposed to be crystal clear about what we cover before venturing out into the field? Will other stories and directions emerge while we’re doing fieldwork? I think so.
One notable moment that stuck out during our meeting is when Sara said that she had just gotten a phone call from an angry parent. She went on to tell us a story about how a parent complained to her about her daughter who she described as “self righteous.” According to the mother her daughter acted as if she was better than everyone else, especially other students that didn’t attend ECHS. The mother, possibly feeling like her power over her daughter was threatened asked Sara for assistance. But Sara didn’t know how to help her.
This kind of situation, students armed with new information and challenging old ideals, seemed to come up a few times in our discussion. Sara told us how many of the teachers at the school aren’t environmentally conscious and only chose to teach at the school because they offer a college prep curriculum. So, when the teachers make mistakes like not using both sides of a paper the students call them on it.
It would be interesting to examine that issue, how students are building a bridge between the environmental knowledge they get at school with their lives outside of school and with authority figures, namely their parents. While the students are being prepared to enter college and help to improve the environment their parents may be used to being the knowledgeable ones and may have issues with that relationship changing so rapidly. That maybe something our group can explore.