Manteca Unified School District First to Implement Landmark EEI Curriculum
MANTECA, Calif., November 19, 2010 – Manteca Unified School District is the first district in the state to implement California’s landmark EEI Curriculum and will hold the first teacher training at GEN7 on December 16, 2010.
California is currently poised to become a national leader in environmental literacy with the launch of the new Education and the Environment Initiative (EEI) Curriculum this fall. This first-inthe-nation environmental curriculum will help change the way we look at solving our environmental problems and is designed to help prepare today’s students to become future scientists, economists, and green technology leaders. Leading the way is Manteca Unified School District (MUSD). Manteca will be the first district in the state to implement the curriculum and plans to train the first thirty teachers on December 16, 2010 at Manteca based American Modular Systems, who manufacture GEN7, high performance, and green classrooms. The event will take place at the GEN7 Green Learning Center from 3:45 pm to 5:45 pm at 787 Spreckels Avenue in Manteca.
Victoria Brunn, Energy Education Specialist and the Sustainability Coordinator for the Manteca Unified School District’s Leadership on Green Initiatives Committee (LOGIC), says the district is excited to launch the curriculum in December. “We hope to implement EEI in second through sixth grade and in freshman earth science.” Manteca has been committed to encouraging environmental stewardship and had developed some environmental coursework on its own but was looking for ways to enhance the current program. “We’d looked at a number of different curricula,” Brunn says. “We felt EEI was the strongest. The curriculum looks at environmental issues from a global perspective.”
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Jack O’Connell, Superintendent of Public Instruction, California Department of Education, supported the initiative and plans to attend the launch had this to say about the curriculum, “Students today will be responsible for making the decision that influence the health of the world in which we live. The EEI curriculum provides the foundation to prepare students to be informed, environmentally conscious, decision makers.”
Co-Founder of American Modular Systems, Tony Sarich, is a strong advocate for environmental education. “We are excited to host the launch of EEI and are committed to assisting the district with implementation of this innovative curriculum. While our company is transforming the way classrooms are built, we are committed to taking a leadership role in the community to encourage environmental stewardship.”
The development of EEI was a collaborative effort led by the California Environmental Protection Agency and was supported by many public and private organizations. Members of the EEI Leadership team will also be in attendance.