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City’s First Public School Green Roof

04/22/2010 11:02:00 By Peter Milosheff, viewed 2,530 times.
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In celebration of Earth Day on Thursday April 22 at 1:30 pm officials of the Alfred E. Smith Career and Technical Education High School and Sustainable South Bronx will hold a commencement ribbon cutting ceremony for a new Green Roof that is being installed at the school.

This will be the first officially approved Green Roof at a New York City public school.

Also participating will be students from Alfred E. Smith along with interns and graduates from Sustainable South Bronx’s BEST Academy program which provides a wide range of green related jobs training programs. Members of the school’s science club assisted with the floor plan and preliminary work for the school’s green roof will also be present.

A green roof is a system of soil and plants on top of a roof. These layers include: protection fabric, root barrier, drainage, soil and plants. Green Roofs cover and protect a rooftop, while providing economic and environmental benefits. The lifespan of a green roof is 2 to 3 times longer than a typical roof. Other environmental and economic benefits include reducing a building’s cooling costs, reducing energy consumption, and managing storm water, using the roof for growing a garden and increasing biodiversity.

The 1,400 square foot green roof at Alfred E. Smith is being built with funds received from the City Gardens Club of New York City and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

The school is located at 333 East 151st Street in Bronx, NY 10451.

 

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Peter Mirabella, PhD

is recently retired from the New York City Department of Education, where he taught elementary school for nearly 9 years. He completed the New York City Teaching Fellows Program in 2004. Prior to becoming a teacher, he was a public affairs speechwriter for over 20 years for such organizations as The New York Stock Exchange, KPMG Peat Marwick, Goldman Sachs, and the New York State Comptrollers Office. He has a Ph.D. in political science from the New School University and a M.A. Degree in education from Lehman College. Dr. Mirabella currently is writing a book about his experience as a New York City school teacher.