Brentwood Elementary in Running for $100,000 Clean Water Trust Fund Grant
May 5, 2006 – Brentwood Elementary School in Raleigh is in the running for a $100,000 Clean Water Trust Fund grant, established to clean up North Carolina waters. Brentwood Elementary, which lies in the Falls Lake watershed, submitted an action plan on how it will manage storm water coming off the school, filtering it before the water reaches nearby Marsh Creek.
Brentwood’s plan to get Marsh Creek off the government’s impaired waters list includes constructing four wetlands areas; establishing trees and shrubs; planting in critical areas; creating a rain garden and woody and herbaceous buffers; and adding rain barrels, a cistern, compost bins, and pet receptacles. The school will also educate neighbors on how to use these items. With the grant, Brentwood would have an outdoor learning lab, tied to curriculum, in the school’s backyard.
“This year’s theme has been ‘outdoor classroom,’” said Tom LaCivita, the third-grade teacher heading up Brentwood’s environmental efforts. “We go outside daily, testing the water and picking up litter. The main point is to show what’s getting into our drinking water.”
Applying for the Clean Water grant is the latest in an extensive list of environmental efforts at the school. LaCivita’s class partnered with the Brentwood Exchange Club and the Brentwood Neighborhood Association and then worked with the Wake County Water and Soil Division to adopt Marsh Creek. Last fall, the elementary school’s kindergarten through third grade participated in the Big Sweep, an annual statewide program. Brentwood is the 26 th Big Sweep site, and the only elementary school to serve as an official site in Wake County. Students worked for hours, pulling truck tires, shopping carts and other trash from Marsh Creek.
“The students said ‘we’ve adopted this creek and we’re going to take care of it,’” said Sheila Jones, environmental educator with Wake County Water and Soil Division. “They are learning about civic responsibility and being involved in their community.”
Ever since LaCivita’s class participated in the Big Sweep, Brentwood Elementary has become increasingly involved in environmental stewardship. In particular, the students have focused on water: what does good and bad water look like and why. LaCivita’s class tests the creek every month for acid and nitrogen.
For their second big project of the school year, the students learned about storm water and then went out and marked storm
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| Brentwood third-grader marks a neighborhood storm drain. |
drains for the City of Raleigh. On February 9, LaCivita’s students donned orange safety vests and glued No Dumping/Drains to the Neuse markers – in English and Spanish – on 16 storm drains in their neighborhood.
In celebration of Earth Day the class also distributed doorknob hangers that they had designed with the message: “What can go down a storm drain? Only rain goes down a storm drain. Everything else is a pain.” The hangers provide tips and illustrate how storm drains in the community deliver rainwater and untreated pollutants to Marsh Creek, which flows to Crabtree Creek, and then into the Neuse River.
A February 17 News & Observer article about the school’s efforts sparked additional opportunities for Brentwood Elementary to get involved. After reading the story, N.C. State University officials asked LaCivita’s class to participate in the campus’ Earth Day celebration, April 22. His students became the first children to have a booth at the event in the Brickyard.
The third-graders taught a hands-on lesson to everyone who came by about what’s getting into the drinking water. They would have visitors sprinkle paint (red Kool-Aid), fertilizer (green Kool-Aid), and car oil (soy sauce) on a laminated board illustrating a neighborhood at “Runoff Road” and “Storm Water Highway.” Then, they would spray water on the board, washing the materials down the driveways and into the gutter. They’d hold up a glass of the now dirty water and ask, “Would you drink that?” They also set up an assembly line to make Earth Day bracelets – with each bead standing for an element – for people who signed clean water pledges.
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| Brentwood Elementary students host booth at NCSU's Earth Day celebration. |
The third-graders’ booth was a hit. “We had more people coming to our booth than anywhere else,” said LaCivita. “We’ve already been asked to come back next year.”
While the college students and visitors learned about what’s getting into their drinking water, the Brentwood students reinforced what they learned through teaching others.
“People shouldn’t wash paint or fertilizer down their driveway,” said third-grader Qweshaun Nevilles. “They’re polluting our water. It’ll end up in Marsh Creek and then in our drinking water. We’ll have dirty water.”
So, what’s next for Brentwood Elementary students? They’ve set a goal of becoming the first watershed stewardship school in the state. To qualify, Brentwood must demonstrate the appropriate knowledge and skills, and complete 10 action projects.
“We’ll qualify by not only doing action plans, but also by having the brainpower to recognize different types of water,” said LaCivita. “Our students and staff are educated on run off, storm water, drinking water, where it flows, and whether there is a shortage.”
As part of their quest, Brentwood students and faculty are going to be trained as water detectives, or community stream investigators, through the City of Raleigh and the Wake County Soil and Water Division. After a two-hour workshop, they will be able to go to Marsh Creek and determine whether something is naturally occurring or pollution, and call a hotline and report it. They will be trained for life.
“Clean water is a privilege and a responsibility,” said Jones. “We’re empowering them with education.”
Brentwood, named a national Blue Ribbon School in 1996, is also planning a Water Carnival for late August or early September with the help of the PTA and a local Kiwanis organization. They’ll bring the school and community together at the beginning of the school year for clean water activities, live music and food.