Climate Parents of Prince George’s County
We submitted testimony concerning proposed updates to COMAR-14.39.02 that the Interagency Commission on School Construction (IAC) is considering to implement HB 19, the Safe Walk To School Act, and HB 566, which requires new schools to have multi-stream waste streams. The regulation are straight forward and implement Maryland law.
You can read the testimony here.
We submitted comments on the final recommendations proposed by the Prince George’s Council School Pedestrian Task Force. Overall their recommendations were great, but some tweaks were needed. Some of our suggestions were adopted by the the task force as well. If implemented this will make our children’s walks to school safer and more sustainable.
You can read the comments here.
We testified at the November 14 Board of Education Meeting to wish the departing board members, especially Climate Change Action Plan Ad-Hoc Committee Chair Dr. Kenneth Harris III, our thanks for the hard work they do on behalf of PGCPS.
The University of Maryland Diamondback had a story on the construction of net-zero schools in Prince George’s County. We discussed the important of net-zero schools to PGCPS and how they can be a model for other institutions.
Read the story here.
We joined numerous groups, including Progressive Maryland and PG Change Makers, at the August 29, 2024, Prince George’s County Board of Education in the call to install solar on existing school buildings, in particular in overburdened and underserved communities such as Fort Washington and Oxon Hill. We also called for strong leadership on climate-friendly, healthy school foods and thanked the Board for all of the progress that has been made on the Climate Change Action Plan Implementation.
Check out and share the piece:
On May 9, we testified at the Interagency Commission on School Construction (IAC), calling on the IAC to fully implement the requirement found in HB 458 to develop standards for LEAs to use when conducting life-cycle cost analysis for new school construction. In particular, we called on the new guidelines to include consideration of Maryland’s 2045 net zero climate goal, the cost to retrofit schools for EVs and fossil fuel-free heating, and the need to consider IRA tax credits.
You can watch the testimony here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEMaSfDNtDk
And you can read our written testimony here.
We submitted testimony to the Prince George’s County Council in support of CR-009-2024, a “Resolution Concerning School Pedestrian Safety Workgroup.” Our children are counting on the County Council to address safe access to schools, and we do believe that this workgroup will lead the Prince George’s County government to prioritize safer access to schools in
its road design and other transportation concerns.
You can read the testimony here.
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The Maryland General Assembly is underway and we have been continuing our work providing support for laws that will lead to greenhouse-gas-free schools. We do this as part of the Maryland Climate Justice Wing. Here is the second set of testimony that we submitted in the 2024 legislative session.
You can see the testimony we submitted earlier in the session here.
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The Maryland General Assembly is underway and we have been continuing our work providing support for laws that will lead to greenhouse gas free schools. We do this as part of the Maryland Climate Justice Wing. Here is the first set of the testimony that we are submitting in the 2024 legislative session.
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