Derby History and Trivia
By Bill Marsano
Yes, history and trivia indeed. Coming right up. But first let’s pause for a julep, in the event that we are parched. Or not.
 Chris Morris’ Mint Julep
4 mint leaves
1 tsp. powdered sugar
2 1/2 oz. Woodford Reserve Bourbon
Crushed ice
1 mint sprig
Morris, who is Woodford Reserve’s Master Distiller, advises as follows. Muddle (stir/crush) four mint leaves, three drops of Woodford Reserve and a teaspoon of powdered sugar in the bottom of a julep glass. This will create a sugary mint paste. Spread the paste evenly over the bottom of the cup with the muddler. Add the sipping straw and fill the cup 2/3rd full with crushed ice. Pack the ice down with the muddler. Add Woodford Reserve Bourbon. Top off the julep glass with loose crushed ice. Garnish with a mint spring next to the sipping straw.
For mint-free alternatives that are also easy to make, consider this pair.
Bourbon Ginger
A smooth rival of the traditional Rye & Ginger
1 part Jim Beam bourbon
Ginger ale
Pour both into an Old Fashioned glass and stir. Use arctic-cold ginger ale or add ice.
The Sidecar
Colin Field, who presides over Bar Hemingway in the Paris Ritz, says the original version of this cocktail, which used brandy instead of bourbon, dates to World War I, when it was created for a customer who regularly arrived at the hotel driving a motorcycle-sidecar combination.
1 part Knob Creek Bourbon
1 part Cointreau
1 part fresh lemon juice
Combine Knob Creek Bourbon, triple sec and lemon juice. Serve in a highball glass over ice. Garnish with a lemon twist. Note: There are many version of this cocktail. Some recipes advise sugaring the rim. Others make numerous adjustments in the proportions, often specifying equal parts for all three ingredients.
A Note on Juices
In bar and kitchen, fresh juice is the best juice because bottled juices are almost invariably made from concentrates. That means they’re highly processed. Add a certain amount of lingering on retail shelves and the result is that the juices taste of acid but not citrus. What’s a lone host to do when faced with a Derby Day or other crowd that is large, demanding and thirsty?
Initial experiments suggest that Volcano brand lemon and lime juices from Italy are worth considering. They’re not made from concentrate. They’re said to be made from organic lime juice and lime oil. As for orange juice: My way of eliminating the sour taste and oily texture of frozen orange juice is to NOT follow manufacturer’s directions. Mix four parts water to one of concentrate instead of three to one.
The Great Race: the Derby in History
The Kentucky Derby began as something of a latecomer: It wasn't established until nearly a century after 1783 or thereabouts, when races in Louisville were held on Market St., a public thoroughfare. Thereafter racing migrated to a series of sites as the interests of public safety demanded. The track that would become famous as Churchill Downs was begun in 1874 and completed the following year. Three major stakes races were run at the inaugural meeting: The Kentucky Derby, the Kentucky Oaks and the Clark Handicap.
A crowd estimated at 10,000 watched as the first Kentucky derby was won by a chestnut colt named Aristides, trained by Ansel Williamson and ridden by Oliver Lewis, both African-Americans.
The origin of the name Churchill Downs is lost to history. There is no published mention of it before a newspaper report from 1883, and it seems not to be in the legal papers that established the track in 1874.
The first filly to win the Derby was Regret, in 1915; in 1917, the English-bred Omar Khayyam was the first foreign-bred winner. The longest of longshots to win was Donerail, in 1913—he went off at more than 90 to 1 and paid a handsome $184.90 to win. The slowest winner was 1891's Kingman, who took more than two minutes, 52 seconds to cross the line. That was at the original mile and a half (reduced since 1896 to a mile and one-quarter), seven seconds slower than any other horse to that time. And the fastest Derby?
The fastest time in “the greatest two minutes in sports” was recorded in 1973 by one of the greatest and most beloved Thoroughbreds, the one admiringly and wonderingly called the Big Red Horse.
I speak, of course, of Secretariat, in whose context “of course” seems to come up repeatedly. Big Red had opened the year as the most famous horse in several decades. He was everyone’s favorite for the Derby—until, astonishingly, he lost his last prep race. Racing fans were stunned and some were doubtful; a few even lost faith. Big Red was obviously just teasing because at Churchill Downs with Ron Turcotte “up” or “in irons” he shot down the track and finished two-and-a-halfs lengths in front. The two-minute barrier had been broken at last, and although it has been broken once more since, by Monarchos, to open the new millennium in 2001, Big Red still holds the record: one minute, fifty-nine and two-fifths seconds.
Big Red went on to win the Triple Crown (of course), winning its last and longest leg, the Belmont Stakes, with another record: He won by 31 lengths. After he crossed the finish line, fans had little else to do but bet on whether the rest of the field would finish the same day.
It is the Derby that focuses attention on the Triple Crown: Its winner is the anointed hopeful, and should he go on to win the Preakness, the tension is almost palpable at the Belmont. For the fact is that winning those three races in a mere five weeks, with each race longer than most entries have previously run, is incredibly difficult.
Forty-three horses have come close, winning the Derby and the Preakness but not the Belmont. Only eleven have gone all the way, and their names are greatness: Sir Barton, 1919; Gallant Fox, 1930; Omaha, 1935; War Admiral, 1937; Whirlaway, 1941; Count Fleet, 1943; Assault, 1946; Citation—the Calumet Comet—1948; Secretariat (“of course”), 1973 and Seattle Slew, 1977.
There have been low moments, too. In 1968—a bad year for many—Dancer’s Image rallied from last place to win with a late charge, only to be disqualified for having an illegal pain-killer in his system. Early last year the Derby was besmirched when “naming rights” were sold, so that it is now known officially as “The Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands.” Yum!, based in Louisville, is surely entitled to call itself “the world's largest restaurant company,” but its 33-odd “units” aren’t exactly Thoroughbreds. They’re fast-food joints.
That was forgotten a few months later when Barbaro became only the sixth horse to enter the Derby undefeated. Hopes rose again and seemed to be justified—he won by a convincing by six-and-a-half lengths. Jockey Edgar Prado hadn't even “opened him up,” so Triple Crown talk was everywhere. Three weeks later, at the Preakness, the crowd was hungry for another victory: It had been a long time since Seattle Slew. He was skittish, and he false-started, crashing through the gate. Never mind, his real start was a good one and then—no two people remember this the same way—there was a terrible, stunning event. Barbaro broke three bones and a million hearts in a couple of seconds. This beautiful creature was suddenly hobbling in pain and unable to continue. His jockey was dismounted and distraught; spectators trackside, at home or in bars feared to look: They cringed or turned away, mouths opened but soundless, unable to speak. One man said later, “It was minutes before I could even blink.”
Just a few months ago, after a long struggle that alternately raised hopes and dashed them, Barbaro was put down, and soon all over the world publishers and broadcasters were running editorials and obituaries about a horse. Yes, a horse. After you watch the Derby a few times you begin to understand why. A horse racing isn't an event but a part of a culture.
This year’s Derby will be the 133rd, a string without interruption. Two world wars and a depression made room for the derby. Why not you?
DERBY DINING
Recipes plain and simple for snacks, entrées, desserts, and more cocktails.
Barbecued Smokies With Bourbon
3 lb. little Smokies
6 oz. Grape jelly
36 oz. Barbecue sauce
8 oz. Jim Beam Bourbon
Mix all ingredients in a crock pot. Simmer 45 minutes. Serve.
Chocolate-Dipped Potato Chips and Pretzels
John Scharffenberger and Robert Steinberg offer this simple recipe from their new cookbook, “The Essence of Chocolate,” saying “Chips and pretzels dipped in chocolate have a yin and yang sort of appeal. The crisp saltiness sets off chocolate’s rich, dark flavor very well. Use gourmet chips and hand-rolled pretzels for a distinctive treat or use your standard grocery-store variety of chips and pretzels. Simply choose your favorite chocolate and melt it. You can use the chocolate as a dip, feasting as you go, or submerge the chips and pretzels halfway or completely in the chocolate and then place them on a Silpat or a sheet of parchment paper until the chocolate has set.
The Perfect Manhattan Steak
Marinade: Combine a 1/2 oz of Maker’s Mark bourbon with olive oil, sage, garlic powder and lemon juice to taste. Marinate one New York strip steak for a minimum of two hours. Grill. Serve.
Maker’s Mark Beef Tenderloin
Marinade
1 C. Maker’s Mark
1 C. brown sugar
2/3 C. soy sauce
1 bunch cilantro, leaves chopped
1/2 C. lemon juice
1 T. Worcestershire sauce
2 C. hot water
3 to 4 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves chopped
1 5-pound beef tenderloin, silver connective tissue removed
Oil, to brush grill
Prepare marinade previous day: Combine brown sugar and hot water, stir to dissolve. Stir in bourbon, soy sauce, cilantro, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, and thyme. Fold the tail of the tenderloin under so meat is of uniform thickness; tie with butcher’s string. Place meat and marinade in a close-fitting dish (a cooking bag is even better) and refrigerate for approximately 8 to 12 hours, turning several times. When grill is ready, place meat on oiled reserving marinade for basting. Cook over high heat with lid closed, basting occasionally and turning meat often. Meat will cook to rare in approximately 30 to 45 minutes. Yield: 8 to 10 servings.
Kentucky Burgoo
Burgoo, popular on Derby day, is a specialty of western Kentucky. It is loaded with meat and vegetables, and has the consistency of stew. The following recipe comes from Thoroughbred country and claims a certain authenticity, but creative cooks are welcome to experiment and innovate: Burgoo is more of a concept than a recipe. It is related to the mint julep in that that there are as many recipes for burgoo as there are cooks in Kentucky.
3 lb. chicken, ready to cook
2 lb. beef tips
12 C. water
1 T salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
6 slices bacon
2 large cans tomatoes
1 C. cubed peeled potatoes
2 C. sliced carrots
1 C. chopped onion
1 C. chopped celery
1 C. chopped green pepper
2 tsp. packed dark brown sugar
1/4 tsp. crushed dried red pepper
4 whole cloves
1 clove garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
4 ears of corn
2 cans Butter Beans
1 C. sliced okra (can substitute 1 package of frozen)
2/3 C. all-purpose flour
In a 10-quart Dutch oven or stock pot combine chicken, beef, water, salt and pepper. Cover; cook till meat is tender, about 1 hour. Remove chicken from broth leaving the beef tips in it. Remove chicken from bones, discard skin and bones, and cube. Set aside. Cook bacon till crisp; drain, reserving drippings. Crumble bacon, set aside. To reserved broth and beef in Dutch oven, add undrained tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, onion, celery, green pepper, sugar, red pepper, cloves, garlic and bay leaf. Cover; simmer 1 hour, stirring often. Remove cloves and bay leaf. With knife, make cuts down center of each row of corn kernels and scrape from cobs. Add corn, cubed chicken, undrained beans, and okra to Dutch oven; simmer 20 minutes. Blend flour and reserved bacon drippings; stir into stew. Cook until stew thickens. Salt to taste.
For dessert? Derby-Pie is a must for most, but to get the real thing, you’ll have to order a frozen one from www.derbypie.com, and serve it warm with whipped cream. If a little bourbon should happen to be stirred into the cream, so much the better.
Derby-Pie was created about a half a century ago by a trio of Kerns—Leaudra, Walter, and their son, George, at the Melrose Inn in Prospect, Kentucky. They later left the inn to establish Kern’s Kitchen, which has produced Derby-Pies ever since. It was, literally, a mom-and-pop business (it had only 14 accounts) until sometime after their grandson, Alan Rupp joined the business in the 1970s. Rupp (pronounced ‘roop’) has expanded the market until his grandparents’ creation is the most famous pie in Kentucky since pizza.
The name, complete with a hyphen, is trademarked and the recipe is a secret; everyone is entitled to try to replicate it—it’s really just chocolate and walnuts—and a great many do. Recipes are available from many sources, on the Internet and off. For example:
Kentucky Chocolate Pie
3 eggs
2/3 C. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 C. light corn syrup
1/3 C. melted butter
1 C. pecans
1/2 C. semi-sweet chocolate chips
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients, pour into an unbaked pie shell and bake for 1 hour.
Two things to remember always. One, you can’t call your pie a Derby-Pie. Two, you won’t know whether your version is even close to the original unless you taste an original.
Let’s close with a couple more cocktails, in case of thirsty weather.
 Maker’s Mark Just Peachy
1 oz. Maker’s Mark
3/4 oz. Peach Schnapps
4 oz freshly squeezed orange juice
1 orange slice
Fill cocktail shaker 3/4 full of ice; add 1 ounce Maker’s Mark, 3/4 ounce Peach Schnapps, and 4 ounces orange juice. Shake for 30 seconds. Strain into stemmed glass. Garnish with orange slice.
Bulleit “Crush”
Tom Bulleit reminds us that “Bourbon is highly underrated as a summertime drink” and proves it with this cocktail, created by Francesco LaFranconi of Southern Wine & Spirits.
1 1/2 oz. Bulleit Bourbon
3/4 oz. Mint Syrup
3/4 oz. Pineapple Syrup
6 orange slices
4 oz. Fresh Sweet 'n Sour
Place the orange slices, syrup, and bourbon in a shaker filled with ice. Shake vigorously and pour (do not strain) into a highball glass. Garnish with mint sprig.
Note: A splash of club soda is optional.
Now then: after the 133rd consecutive Kentucky Derby is run on the first Saturday in May, you have only 364 days left to rest up for the next one.—Bill Marsano, Hemispheres’ James Beard award-winning contributing editor, never changes horses in midstream.
Good Golfing, Vietnam
by Dale Leatherman / Photos by Donnelle Oxley
Our caddies bow to us, and we realize they are not like the slouch-capped lads who lugged our bags in Scotland and Ireland. We’re in Vietnam, a country riding a wave of newfound prosperity and embracing the golf addiction that is sweeping Asia. Female caddies are de rigueur.
Nguyen and Ha are swaddled in loose-fitting uniforms topped with wide-brimmed hats. (Only lowly field hands have tanned skin in this culture.) The girls are diminutive, with pleasant faces and big brown eyes that dance at the prospect of caddying two American women golfers. Using a few words of English and lots of gestures, they are soon clubbing us accurately, lining up our putts, and giggling softly when we praise them.
 The course is Chi Linh Star Golf and Country Club, a 2003 addition to Vietnam’s growing golf complement, and arguably its best. It reflects the new wave of golf in Vietnam, with its modern, glass-fronted clubhouse; fleet of golf carts with caddy platforms; and contemporary layout by an Australian design firm. Verdant and diligently maintained, the course is a captivating shot-makers’ test, incorporating a multi-fingered lake and the steep hills around it. Eighteen more holes open this year, followed soon by a five-star hotel.
The club is an hour east of Hanoi, on our route to scenic Ha Long Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage site. By nightfall we are aboard the French-inspired Emeraude, sailing among the bay’s monolithic islands and colorful floating villages.
Our Vietnam odyssey had begun in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), an international gateway and center of business and culture that is home to more than six million people.
In the Saigon Saigon Bar on the roof of the historic Caravelle Hotel, we sip cocktails under the gentle swish of ceiling fans. Thirty years ago, war correspondents gathered here to watch artillery fire light up the night sky.
On the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City is the 36-hole Vietnam Golf and Country Club, a gently rolling venue carved from a former cashew plantation. Though both layouts are relatively flat, the tiered, aggressively bunkered greens prove humbling, and we wilt as the temperature tops 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
 The heat eases slightly as we head 120 miles north to Phan Thiet, a fishing village and resort area. The beachfront Novotel Ocean Dunes & Golf Resort has large, modern rooms and Sinatra tunes floating through the open-air lobby, but we know we’re not in Miami when we pass the remains of a Buddhist temple on the Nick Faldo–designed golf course. Wind gusts up to 60 knots swirl among the dunes and lotus ponds, making the narrow fairways seem to shrink. Hole 9, a knife-thin ocean-side par three, has been among Golf Magazine’sbest 500 holes in the world.
Heading north and inland, we follow a mountain road into the highlands, 5,000 feet above sea level. We are immediately enchanted by the former French hill station that is now the village of Dalat, called the “city of eternal spring.” Temperatures top out at 80 degrees, and the crisp air carries the scent of the flowers, which are everywhere.
 At the center of town, on a hill overlooking a large lake, is the Sofitel Dalat Palace Hotel, built in the 1920s. Its exterior received an Art Deco makeover during WWII, but inside it’s pure Victorian, with huge, high-ceiling common areas and sumptuous suites lit by chandeliers.
The country’s first nine-hole golf course was built here in 1922 at the instigation of the last emperor, Bao Dai. When he was exiled, the course fell into disuse, but it was revived in the mid-1990s and expanded to 18 holes. A punishing, 7,000-yard track with long water carries, sharp elevation changes and slick greens, it rewards with dynamic views of the lake and countryside.
The three courses we’ve played exemplify Vietnam’s diverse terrain and limitless possibilities as a golf destination. There are only a dozen courses here now, but many more are in the works.
 We catch a 60-minute flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Siem Reap in neighboring Cambodia, which also expects golf to broaden its appeal to tourists. Most visitors are here for the Angkor temples—vast, intricately hand-carved stone structures built by Khmer kings between the 9th and 14th centuries. The 77-square-mile UNESCO World Heritage site lies just outside Siem Reap. Here, the legendary Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor has housed affluent guests for 75 years. Nearby is the Sofitel Royal Angkor Golf & Spa Resort, which made history in 2006 with the opening of the $10 million Phokeethra Country Club, the country’s first international caliber golf course.
We rise before dawn to beat the crowds at the temples, then catch a Sofitel shuttle to the golf course, passing scores of tuk tuks—the ubiquitous two-person carriages propelled by motorbikes. We are met on the clubhouse steps by smiling young women bearing icy towels and goblets of cold lemongrass tea. Aided by two more caddies, we run a gauntlet of water hazards and diabolical bunkers, loving every minute. The grooming is so perfect, and the colors of the grass, water, and sand so vibrant that the course seems surreal.
We pause just beyond the ninth green at an 11th-century bridge juxtaposed against the modern clubhouse, savoring the time warp. Moments like this are what brought us to southeast Asia, and will bring us back again.
Links to the Links
Chi Linh Star Golf Club, Hanoi, Vietnam / chilinhstargolf.com.vn
Dalat Palace Golf Club, Dalat, Vietnam / vietnamgolfresorts.com
Novotel Ocean Dunes & Golf Resort, Phan Thiet, Vietnam / accorhotels-asia.com/Novotel-OceanDunes
Sofitel Dalat Palace Hotel and Dalat Palace Golf Club, Dalat, Vietnam / sofitel-asia.com
Sofitel Phokeethra Royal Angkor Golf and Spa Resort, Siem Reap, Cambodia / sofitel-asia.com
Vietnam Golf & Country Club, Saigon, Vietnam / vietnamgolfcc.com
Resource: Don’t leave home without National Geographic Traveler: Vietnam ($16.29, amazon.com), a guidebook by savvy American ex-pat James Sullivan. Sullivan lives in Hue with his wife and two children and promotes Vietnam as a tourist destination.
Reports on Green Schools by Heschong Mahone Group
By Charles Lockwood
Over the last decade, the Heschong Mahone Group, Inc. (HMG) of Fair Oaks, California, has conducted and published three studies that examined the impact of daylighting—and, later, other classroom conditions like indoor air quality—on student performance. What HMG found has had a far-reaching impact.
The first HMG study, “Daylighting in Schools,” started in 1996 and was completed and published in 1999.
“We were interested in seeing if we could demonstrate that better daylighting would be associated with better student performance,” says Lisa Heschong, a principal with HMG. “At the same time, daylighting can save a great deal of energy if it’s done properly, and PG&E (a California utility company) was interested in promoting the use of daylighting as an energy efficiency measure. If we did find a link between daylighting and student performance, PG&E believed there would be a greater adoption of the practice and PG&E would be able to promote it and save energy.”
This first HMG study examined school districts in Seattle, Washington, Fort Collins, Colorado, and San Juan Capistrano, California. HMG found that end of the year test scores of students in classrooms with the most daylighting were 7 percent to 18 percent higher than for students in classrooms with the least daylighting. The study also found that students with the most daylighting in their classrooms progressed 20 percent faster on math tests and 26 percent faster on reading tests over one year than students in classrooms with the least daylighting.
“This study did indeed motivate schools across California, the U.S., and internationally to reconsider the importance of daylighting, which had been considered nonessential for schools for several decades,” says Heschong.
“For centuries, up until the late 1950s, daylighting was always considered essential for schools and they were designed specifically to be daylit,” she continues. “Then, in the 1960s and 1970s, architects abandoned daylighting for a variety of reasons. So, we had a generation of kids who went to school without daylighting and windows and we were able to demonstrate that that did affect their learning.”
The second HMG study, “Re-Analysis Report: Daylighting in Schools, Additional Analysis” in 2001 re-examined the San Juan Capistrano school district and found a 21 percent improvement in student learning rates in classrooms with the most daylighting compared to students in classrooms with the least amount of daylight.
“Daylighting is one of two main signals that help keep your circadian system in proper synchronization with the seasons,” says Heschong. “When one goes out of sync, you feel like you have a light case of jet lag, you are sleepy and hungry, you’re confused, disoriented. In the most extreme cases you suffer from SAD—Seasonal Affective Disorder. That research has both reinforced my own research and helped explain the mechanism for why exposure to daylighting might help students to learn better.”
The third HMG study, “Windows and Classrooms: A Study of Student Performance and the Indoor Environment—CEC PIER 2003,” was a detailed statistical analysis of students in 500 classrooms in 36 schools in the Fresno, California, school district. The study examined the impact of a variety of factors, including daylighting, ventilation, heating and air conditioning, indoor air quality, acoustics, windows, and outdoor views.
“At the same time, we were doing a parallel study of office workers using a similar methodology,” says Heschong. “We found something very interesting which has been echoed in other research: It’s not just daylight illumination—the brightness—but it seems to also be very importantly the quality of the view and the size of the view that contribute to better learning. My current hypothesis is that view generates additional circadian stimulation.”
This third study found that ample outdoor views of vegetation and/or human activity, daylighting without heat penetration and glare, a high indoor air quality, good acoustics, and thermal control and comfort positively impact student learning and performance.
“One of the interesting things we found in the office study, was that office workers who had the best views had the fewest complaints about everything else in their office,” says Heschong. “They were happy, or more tolerant, even if the measurements that we took contradicted their beliefs about their office conditions. Those workers who had no view, however, were much less tolerant of office conditions. One could hypothesize that there’s some kind of stress mechanism connected to a lack of views.”
Clearly, daylighting, outdoor views, indoor air quality, indoor thermal control and comfort, and good acoustics—all key elements in green schools—have a tremendous impact on how well our children learn and perform in school. So, what can parents do to turn their children’s schools green?
“They can lobby their school boards to adopt green policies, both for the design and operation of schools, which will have a very powerful impact,” says Lisa Heschong. “That’s the most effective action. Parents have a lot of say with school boards. All they have to do is show up or write a letter and that will make a big difference.”
Capital E “Greening of America’s Schools Report”
“We wanted to study how green impacts the three issues that schools struggle with most—high energy bills, poor indoor air quality, and test scores,” says Gregory Kats, a Partner at Capital E, a Washington, DC–based firm that provides strategic consulting, technology assessment and deployment, and advisory services to firms and investors in the clean energy industry.
Last October, Capital E issued its “Greening America’s Schools—Costs and Benefits” report, which yielded some surprising findings. “The data on green school costs and benefits demonstrate to a much larger degree than expected that green design is now a far lower cost and lower risk strategy than designing conventional unhealthy, inefficient schools,” says Kats.
Greening America’s Schools: Costs and Benefits
Greg Kats/Capital-E
Some 55 million students spend their days in schools that are too often unhealthy and that restrict their ability to learn. A recent and rapidly growing trend is to design schools with the specific intent of providing healthy, comfortable and productive learning environments. These green, high performance schools generally cost more to build—a major obstacle at a time of limited school budgets and an expanding student population.
 Conventional schools are typically designed just to meet building codes that are often incomplete. This type of design minimizes initial capital costs but delivers schools that are not designed specifically to provide comfortable, productive, and healthy work environments for students and faculty. Few states regulate indoor air quality in schools or provide for minimum ventilation standards. Not surprisingly, a large number of studies have found that schools across the country are unhealthy—increasing illness and absenteeism and bringing down test scores.
This national review of 30 green schools built between 2000 and 2006 demonstrates that green schools cost less than 2 percent more than conventional schools—or about $3 per square foot—but provide financial benefits that are 20 times as large.
The total financial benefits from building green schools are about $70 per square foot or 20 times as high as the initial cost of going green. Lower energy and water costs, improved teacher retention, and lowered health costs save green schools directly about $12 per square foot, about four times the additional cost of going green. For an average conventional school, building green would save enough money to pay for an additional full-time teacher. Financial savings to the broader community are significantly larger, and include improved student and teacher health and performance, reduced cost of public infrastructure, lower air and water pollution, and a better educated and compensated workforce.
Green schools provide additional benefits including reduced teacher sick days, reduced operations and maintenance costs, reduced insured and uninsured risks, improved power quality and reliability, increased state competitiveness, reduced social inequity, and educational enrichment. Although there is currently insufficient data to quantify these additional benefits, they are substantial and, if calculated, would increase the recognized financial benefits of greening schools.
Building healthy high performance school buildings is now far more fiscally prudent and lower risk than building conventional, inefficient, and unhealthy school buildings.
Impacts: Student health and learning
One of the most significant impacts of building green schools is improved student health and learning. For example, a study of Chicago and Washington, DC, schools found that better school facilities can add 3 to 4 percentage points to a school’s standardized test scores, even after controlling for demographic factors. Another recent study of green schools for Washington State estimated a 15 percent reduction in absenteeism and a 5 percent increase in student test scores in green compared to conventional schools. Students moving from a conventional school to the new green Clearview Elementary School, a 2002 LEED Gold building in Pennsylvania, experienced a 19 percent increase in average Student Oral Reading Fluency Scores (DIBELS) when compared to the prior, conventional school.
The Third Creek Elementary School in Statesville, North Carolina, was completed in 2002. Terry Holliday, the superintendent of the school’s district described the transition:
“Third Creek Elementary School replaced ADR and Wayside Elementary Schools, schools that were two of the district’s lowest performing schools in regard to test scores and teacher retention/absence. This same group of students and teachers improved from less than 60 percent of students on grade level in reading and math to 80 percent of students on grade level in reading and math since moving into the new Third Creek Elementary School. Third Creek had the most gains in academic performance of any of the 32 schools in the school system.”
Green schools include a range of material, design, and operation measures that directly improve human health and productivity. Improved learning and test scores have been shown in numerous studies to be significantly and positively associated with higher lifetime earnings. Thus, a conservative 3 to 5 percent improvement in learning ability and test scores can result in increased student earnings throughout life with an estimated present value of $49 per square foot for an average green school. Greening school design provides an extraordinarily cost-effective way to enhance student learning, reduce health and operational costs and, ultimately, increase school quality and competitiveness.
How High Is Your School’s “Green IQ”?
Lessons from Cesar Chavez Elementary School
Dozens of green schools have been constructed in the U.S. Many existing schools have undergone green renovations.
“Any school can be green, whatever its location, whatever its size, whether it’s a public or private facility,” says Wendy Rogers of LPA Architects which has designed several green schools in California. “Cost is not an impediment. Contrary to what many people believe, green schools don’t have to cost more to construct than standard schools. The prices of sustainable building materials and energy-efficient building systems and technologies have dropped considerably over the last five years. In addition, many cities, states, the Federal government, and even utility companies have rebate programs and other incentives that help to cover the cost of energy-efficient and energy-generating technologies.”
The US Green Building Council’s LEED for Schools rating system (the pilot program was released in March 20, 2007) provides a thorough and reliable set of criteria to construct a green school, turn an existing school green, and measure a green school’s natural lighting, energy efficiency, indoor air quality, use of healthy materials, acoustics, and other sustainable features that promote learning and wellness and also reduce operating costs.
What goes into creating a school with a high Green IQ on a standard budget? Let’s find out on a “Web tour” of one green school: Cesar Chavez Elementary School in downtown Long Beach, California.
 “One of the most cost-effective ways to green a school is site planning,” says Wendy Rogers of LPA Architects, which designed the school. “To make the best use of sunlight and prevailing breezes, for example, we gave Cesar Chavez Elementary School a north-south orientation on the 2.6-acre site, so the main façades face north and south. The north façade has many large operable windows that bring natural daylight into the classrooms, gymnasium, offices, and public spaces. Windows on the south façade have sunscreens, awnings, canopies, and other shading devices that support natural daylighting while minimizing solar heat gain inside the school, which reduces air conditioning usage and saves energy.”
Natural daylighting also is filtered through a series of lightshelves and sunscreens, as well as light monitors in the roof which bring northern light into the public areas, including the corridors. All of the windows have Low Emission (“Low-E”) glazing that lets in daylight, yet stops up to 70 percent of solar heat transmission.
A dimming system in the classrooms, offices, and public areas automatically dims or shuts down the indirect and direct T8 fluorescent light system when sufficient daylighting is present, which saves electricity. Occupancy sensors shut off artificial lighting when no one is present in a room, further saving electricity.
The school building was planned to support natural ventilation. A series of operable clerestories and windows provides great cross-ventilation and cools the classrooms. Operable skylights vent air from the common areas. The light monitors in the roof also conduct heat out of the school. This system significantly reduces the school’s HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning) requirements and costs.
 Cesar Chavez Elementary was constructed with natural, recycled, and recyclable building materials. Many floors, for example, are covered in natural linoleum made from linseed oil and jute, rather than the standard dioxin-laden vinyl composition tile (VCT). (The natural linoleum also is highly recyclable at the end of its useful life.) Carpets and wall coverings have a significant amount of recycled content. The Kindergarten Play Area’s rubber surface was manufactured from several recycled rubber sources.
Careful site planning and cost-effective landscaping at Cesar Chavez Elementary School also reduce the number and intensity of “heat islands”—dark, hard surfaces like playgrounds, parking lots, sidewalks, building façades, and roofs that absorb and trap solar heat, which can increase surrounding temperatures by 10 degrees or more, which in turn leads to greater air conditioning use and higher energy costs.
At Cesar Chavez Elementary, however, light colored concrete—not dark heat-absorbing “asphalt concrete”—was used for the school’s main entrance, drop-off area, and hard-surface courtyards. The higher reflective value of the light-color concrete helps to reduce heat gain by as much as 50 percent.
“To further reduce the heat island effect, we planted trees between the parking court and the northern side of the school, as well as around the property’s perimeter and along the bordering streets, to shade the campus and the buildings,” says Wendy Rogers. “A 20-foot-long ‘green screen’—a metal lattice planted with Blood Red Trumpet Vine—shades the outdoor Lunch Shelter and the Gymnasium/Administration building, reducing air conditioning use and costs and adding natural beauty to the campus.”
Reducing water consumption is an important component of any green building, particularly in water-scarce southern California. Cesar Chavez Elementary School’s irrigation system—low precipitation rate spray heads and bubblers, and an Evapotranspiration-based water management system—reduces water runoff and landscape and domestic water usage by as much as 30 percent or more.
The Long Beach school provides yet another environmental benefit which boosts its Green IQ. “Prior to the school’s opening, its 800 students were bused to nearby schools,” says Wendy Rogers. “Now, many of these children walk or ride their bicycles to school, which saves fuel, reduces air pollution generated by school buses, and lessens the carbon dioxide emissions which contribute to climate change.”
Some of the costs of this $15 million school project were funded by two different programs.
First, Savings By Design, a program sponsored by four of California’s largest utilities under the auspices of the Public Utilities Commission, which provides a range of services, includes incentives to help offset the costs of energy efficient building features.
 Second, Cesar Chavez Elementary was the first school to make use of California State Proposition 47, an Energy Allowance Grant for new school facilities that helped fund Cesar Chavez Elementary’s design and construction.
In addition, because Cesar Chavez Elementary School is a joint use facility shared with the city’s Parks and Recreation Department—which uses the Gymnasium building and other recreational facilities during off-school hours—that Department provided additional funding to help construct the school.
Thus, Cesar Chavez Elementary was completed on a standard budget for K-12 schools. This school also saves money year after year after year. The green building features and technologies reduce energy usage and costs by 33 percent more than is required by the California Title 24 energy code, which is the strictest in the nation, and the school’s water consumption and costs are also significantly lower than those of standard schools.
Every year in the U.S., school districts spend billions of dollars on new and renovated facilities. With more and more studies proving the educational, health, financial, and environmental benefits of green schools, we must use that money to make green schools the preferred norm for our children—not the exception.
The Right Way to Go
Here’s how to reduce the stress quotient—for you and the kids—when you’re leaving them home, according to Dr. Linda Reid-Chassiakos, a mother of three, a California pediatrician, and the spokeswoman for the American Academy of Pediatrics.
• Before your trip, allow your children to stay for short periods with the caregiver or relatives who will be responsible for them while you’re gone. That way, when you leave, your children will be comfortable.
• Sleepovers are an opportunity for children to “practice” being without you in a new environment.
• When leaving babies or toddlers, if possible have the caregiver stay at your home so that the children are surrounded by familiar things. If upir children are going to stay elsewhere, take familiar objects, such as toys, blankets, and a night-light. Record a DVD with your face and voice. Give the caregiver a calendar so toddlers can mark off the days until you return.
• Go over safety guidelines with everyone.
• Lay down the ground rules clearly for older children and teens. Make sure they know how to reach you by cell phone or e-mail.
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