Our Pilot School Sites are:
Champlain Elementary School and Lawrence Barnes Elementary School
—both schools are located in Burlington, Vermont.

Talking about the Sustainable Schools Project with SSP Coordinator Jen Cirillo

Each pilot school is exploring different approaches to SSP’s work of strengthening curriculum,
community partnerships, campus ecology and schoolwide collaboration.

Champlain Elementary

Demographics Champlain is located in the south end of Burlington. Student enrollment is approximately 300 students in grades K-5, with a student population consisting of families from varied demographics, ranging from low to high income. 55% percent of Champlain families are on free and reduced lunch. Over the past five years there has been an increase in the ethnic background of their students. ESL (English as a Second Language) services have been offered to students who have moved here from Bosnia, Germany, Vietnam, China, Tibet, Romania and Somalia.

Champlain's SSP Work focuses on the integration of literacy and sustainability into place-based curriculum; SSP staff and teachers are exploring together how to incorporate more use of informational (non-fiction) texts, service-learning projects, and authentic writing tasks into each grade’s place-based units. Study groups and literacy book kits, new documentation and assessment strategies are all helping this effort.

School staff and PTO are using the shared “lens of sustainability” to select and guide the many campus and community projects underway. Barnes plans to emphasize the importance of increasing its students’ sense of place and pride in their neighborhood and school.

The Sustainable Schools Project at Champlain Elementary in Burlington, VT is partnering with the Vermont Forum on Sprawl to implement the Healthy Neighborhoods/Healthy Kids project. Champlain is also partnering with the Burlington Legacy Project on The Legacy Card.

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Lawrence Barnes School

Demographics Barnes lies at the heart of Burlington's Old North End, a predominantly low income community. The students who live in this densely populated urban neighborhood rely upon the school to meet many of their basic needs. About 25% of the children eat their breakfast at school each day and 85% of the children receive free and reduced lunch. Perhaps even more important than the meals and basic educational foundations Barnes provides for them, the school and its personnel provide the children with stability, security, safety and caring. Barnes has a very diverse student population and approximately 15% of their students do not speak English as their first language. These children have special literacy needs. Many of Barnes US born students arrive at school without the benefit of coming from literacy rich homes.

Barnes' SSP Work Barnes’ context and circumstance will drive a very compelling set of learning opportunities to address their SSP goals of fostering civic engagement and improved student learning. This type of education begins with teachers. Barnes, teachers and staff are investigating community sustainability initiatives in Burlington’s Old North and North Street communities as part of a schoolwide focus on increasing students’ sense of place and pride in their
neighborhood. After a series of workshops on local initiatives, teachers will use curriculum mapping tools developed by SSP, get help planning units, and work with community partners. Bringing teachers, staff, students, and community members together to build a collective vision for the future will be the first step to ensure that Barnes’ students will have the skills, knowledge, and attitudes to be active citizens. By supporting this work along the way and connecting Barnes with community partners, SSP will help Barnes meet its goal of developing a sense of place and pride in their neighborhood.

We are eager to explore future sites for Sustainable Schools.
We encourage schools to learn more through this website and by contacting us.

For more information please contact Jen Cirillo, SSP Coordinator
at 802-985-8686 x31, or jcirillo@shelburnefarms.org