LEED-ing to sustainability: Tomahawk, Pawnee and Rushton elementary schools are LEED certified

Tomahawk, Pawnee and Rushton Elementary were silver certified in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design on Jan. 14.

LEED is a global standardized framework for a green building. It’s a standard for a sustainable building that recognizes the effects a building can have on the surrounding environment. 

The certification is calculated through a point system. Each point is earned through passing different assessments, including carbon footprint, water efficiency and energy efficiency. The three elementary schools reached the silver certification by earning 50-59 points. 

“Sustainability has been a focus of the project [Tomahawk] in terms of water, and how we use the land[and] indoor air quality,” Tomahawk principal Erin Aldrich said. 

According to Aldrich, the LEED certification showed that the effort to be sustainable during construction was worth it from the start to finish.

A key asset to the LEED accreditation is the Greenwood Consulting Group, due to their experience in choosing sustainable materials and methods of construction. GCS is a national group that advises the construction of a building to meet LEED certification. 

The group is brought in for every school SMSD rebuilds. This includes the earlier elementary rebuilds, Westwood View, certified in 2025 and John Diemer, certified in 2023.

LEED fellow Sarah Greenwood worked closely with the district through the whole rebuilding process.  She was recognized as a LEED fellow in 2020, which is a credential that shows proficiency, excellence and impact in modern sustainable design. This allows her to give well rounded advice through the whole construction and design process. 

“You're just making good decisions that are going to enhance a learning environment by leaps and bounds,” Greenwood said.

With 20 years in the business, Greenwood has been able to see the progress in sustainable buildings. Specifically with K-12 schools, as The Collaborative for High Performance Schools was her first project throughout California.

“There's more attention to bring the best learning environment to students,” Greenwood said.

When sustainable and intentional choices are made, the learning environment improves, according to Greenwood.

“A rattling HVAC in the background can be a distraction,” Greenwood said. “With glass that's installed, whether that's a window pane to the outside or an indoor corridor, and same with doors need to be a certain STC rating so that each classroom is acoustically productive.” Greenwood said. 

According to Aldrich, having a green building correlates to better student behavior. At Tomahawk, the administration has seen a 50% decrease in office referrals and suspensions since moving into the new building.

“It automatically uplifts the mood when you have access to daylight,” Aldrich said. “We had classrooms in the old building that didn't have windows. Going from that type of facility to a school where every single space has access to natural light.”

The design process was led by DLR, which closely collaborated with Tomahawk. Through both community and staff design teams, they were able to create the ideal building for teachers and the environment. One way to become more green is through utilizing natural light, according to Oxford University. By increasing natural light, one’s carbon footprint is reduced because there’s not as much energy being used to power light bulbs. 

DLR was able to accommodate the needed elements for a green building, such as outdoor learning areas, natural light and preservation of nature and outdoor spaces.

“[Tomahawk has] a common area outside for the kids, and a big, grass field for kids to play,” Tomahawk alum and senior Lucinda Hendrickson said.

Nature is brought into the building through a tree house theme and themed flexible working spaces in each area of the building. 

“Each of our four quadrants of the building is a different season with a pod correlating with the season and what the trees look like when they're in season,” Aldrich said.

The two-story building allows for better and more adaptive learning,according to Deputy Superintendent, David Stubblefield.  

The new building's outdoor space is for more than just a certification point; it allows for collaboration and community, according to Aldrich. 

“We have opportunities for community events in our outdoor learning area,” Aldrich said. “[It] creates a great space to bring the community together, whether it's a Friday night and they're playing on the playground, right after school hours, or we're doing our Tiger trot and the whole community is coming together to work towards a goal.”