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Sustainability Efforts: Students Help Craft New Policy

Matthew Fischer talks at a School Board meeting

Issaquah School District has long been committed to practices that are sustainable and good for the environment. Now, the principles behind the work that students, staff and families have been doing for decades may be written into district policy, against which the School Board measures success each year. 

This proposed “Operational Expectation 17, Sustainability,” is different from all those that the district has had before, because it’s the product of a student-led process.

Zoe works on a volunteer project last year

At top, Matthew Fischer speaks during a School Board meeting. Immediately above, Zoe Dearing works on a volunteer project.

“I am grateful and humbled to be a student advocate that catalyzed this policy development,” said Matthew Fischer, an Issaquah High School senior and one of a group of student sustainability ambassadors, who asked the district to consider a regulation about sustainability for all areas of operations to provide a sense of accountability. “Our advocacy started with a petition encouraging the district to implement a specific sustainability policy, which received over 300 student signatures,” Fischer said, noting that they then reached out to the city councils of Issaquah, Sammamish, Newcastle, Renton and Bellevue to request support. 

Fischer and Gibson Ek High School seniors Zoe Dearing and Siena Gould worked with two former School Board members to create a draft of Operational Expectation (OE) 17 regarding sustainability, which the current board reviewed at the October 10 meeting. The superintendent’s Cabinet is now reviewing the draft, which will then return to the School Board for the directors’ consideration and discussion. The district’s current Operational Expectations are about topics such as budgeting, communication, equity, technology, discipline, technology and more. 

“This was a great process,” Fischer said during the board meeting. “I really believe that this is a cohesive sustainability Operational Expectation. 

The draft includes nine points, such as: a comprehensive resource management plan, sustainability education for students, a robust waste management program, ensuring that construction and renovation meet sustainable building practices and more. 

Gould said it's important to the students that the community to be able to access sustainability information about the district’s ongoing work. A new section of the website focused on sustainability is in the works.  

Dearing thanked the board members for working with student sustainability ambassadors. “We have this general goal of trying to make the future of our planet healthy and sustainable,” she said. “We especially wanted to make sure we are including students in the conversation, because they are the future. We are the future.” 

She also said the students hope that the proposed OE will set the district up to be flexible and responsive to develop new practices as innovation occurs in the future. 

Fischer said he appreciates the opportunity that the students had to work directly with district staff and former board members Anne Moore and Suzanne Weaver. 

“The most exciting part for me has been getting to understand more about Issaquah School District's governance structure and learning about the important decisions that the School Board and district leadership make on a daily basis,” he added. “ ... I hope to continue leading sustainable initiatives at Issaquah High School as Student Body President, building on the success of ‘Turn-Off-the-Lights Day’ and ‘Recycling Reboot,’ which have helped conserve energy and save money in waste disposal. I believe legislative accountability at the district level and grassroots projects at the school level can ultimately propel the Issaquah School District into a role model in sustainable operations and cost-saving measures.” 

Superintendent Heather Tow-Yick thanked the students for their work. “It’s been incredible and inspiring to see the progress and process that you’ve gone through ... We’re really excited to take this on as a next step.”