Missouri Green Schools

Statewide recognition for school sustainability initiatives at the system level. Open enrollment.

Missouri Green Schools is an ongoing program for PreK-12th grade schools in Missouri and Southern Illinois that supports school sustainability initiatives. Enrolled schools have access to tracking and training tools, as well as free professional development for anyone on staff that wants to grow in their sustainability knowledge & skill set. Schools may enroll at any time and recognition is offered annually across five levels.

Participate

Schools can enroll at any time to begin their self-guided journey using MGS tools. To begin, a school representative simply fills out the Enrollment Form. MGS staff will then reach out to share next steps. View the Levels of Achievement and Navigating the Program sections below for additional info on what to expect as you progress through the program.

Enroll Now

Levels of Achievement

Participating schools are honored annually at emerging, progressing and advanced levels for their achievements across five levels of recognition. Criteria are rooted in best practices and scaffolded to support growth towards long-term, whole-school sustainability.

View Level Criteria and Benefits

View Comparison of Levels' Criteria and Benefits

Navigating the Program

Getting Started: Four Simple Steps to Seed Recognition

After enrolling, complete these four items to achieve Level 1: Seed recognition! This level honors commitment to taking the initial steps towards advancing green and healthy practices.

Submit a Letter of Commitment – A sample letter / template is viewable here (PDF). Click here to ‘Make a Copy’ of this letter which you can edit.
Do a Quick Assessment of your School’s Green Efforts – Use this baseline self-assessment to discuss your school’s present circumstances (click here to create an editable copy). A list of yes or no questions, this baseline document is a nice guide for beginning to note what your school has accomplished and to identify additional actions you’d like to take. It takes about 30 minutes to complete and can be completed individually or as a team if you already have allies identified.
Identify at Least 1 Goal Aligned with a START Topic – Perhaps you already have a goal in mind. If not, consider looking at the actions outlined in the next section – such as setting up a Green Team or beginning to benchmark energy usage – or consider items outlined in the baseline self-assessment. View an outline of START Topics (START stands for the Sustainability Tracking, Analytics, & Roadmap Tool.)
Set Up Your School’s START Profile – The primary tool that is used to navigate the MGS program is called the Sustainability Tracking and Roadmap Tool (START). START, which includes 53 Topics – each with 3 tiers of varying difficulty, has been developed by the Green Schools Alliance. Follow the instructions under ‘Set Up Your Account’ here.

Gaining Momentum: Steps for Achieving Sprout and Beyond

Congratulations! You have taken the first steps towards greening your school. Now it’s time to build your team and grow your practices. Levels 2 – 5 recognize schools that have established a Green Team and achieved varying degrees of START Topics and natural resource use benchmarking or reduction. See the MGS Recognition Levels table for more details.

Establish a Green Team – The next step is to assemble a Green Team. An ideal team includes representation from a variety of roles and perspectives, such as teachers, facilities staff, administration, health and nutrition. It’s great to consider student, parent, and community representation as well. Having representation from a diverse group of stakeholders increases the possibilities for implementing sustainable, whole-school changes. If you do not yet have a team, or if you have a team but find that it would be valuable to expand your team further, this resource is one we’ve developed to help with green team recruitment. Once your team is established, we encourage you to revisit or retake the baseline self-assessment together. Doing so can generate lots of discussion and excitement!
Explore START and Begin Tracking Your Accomplishments – The Sustainability Tracking and Roadmap Tool (START) will be used to benchmark your progress and track your accomplishments throughout your green school journey. Schools will be eligible to enroll in START once they have completed all Seed level requirements and begin working on Sprout level requirements. Begin by getting acquainted with START Topics (53 Topics are covered and divided into three categories: Educational Programs, Organizational Culture, and Physical Place.) Then, enter your school’s data and track your progress.
Begin to Measure and Reduce Your Natural Resource Use – Using Energy Star Portfolio Manager to track energy, water and waste is a best practice that is built into the recognition levels of Missouri Green Schools and will also help to answer some of the questions in START – so this will be a great place to direct efforts. This Energy Star Benchmarking How-To Guide can help you to get started. (Note that it is possible that your school already uses Energy Star Portfolio Manager. As outlined in the how-to guide, contacting your school/district’s Facilities and/or Finance Department is a great way to find out.) While Energy Star Portfolio Manager is a free tool that is recommended, schools may use alternate tools to measure their natural resource use.

Honorees

Congratulations to the 2025-2026 Missouri Green Schools honorees!

Seed

Ladue Horton Watkin Highs School (Ladue)
Parkway North High School (Parkway)
Pembroke Hill School (Independent, Kansas City)
Ritenour Middle School (Ritenour)
Robinson Elementary (Kirkwood)
Ryogoku Soccer Academy (Independent, Kansas City)
The Summit Preparatory School (Independent, Springfield)

Sprout

Brentwood Middle School (Brentwood)
Central High School (Springfield Public Schools)
City Garden Montessori (Charter, St. Louis)
Dressel Elementary (Lindbergh)
Holland Elementary (Springfield Public Schools)
Iveland Elementary (Ritenour)
Marvin Elementary (Ritenour)
Normandy Early Childhood Center (Normandy Schools Collaborative)
Northeast Middle School (Kansas City Public Schools)
Oakville Elementary (Oakville)

Seedling

Bridgeway Elementary School (Pattonville)
Brittany Woods Middle School (University City)
Central Primary School (Ferguson-Florissant)
Chaminade College Preparatory School (Independent, St. Louis)
Crestwood Elementary School (Lindbergh)
Herculaneum High School (Herculaneum)
Patrick Henry Downtown Academy (St. Louis Public Schools)
Principia School (Independent, St. Louis)
St. Francis of Assisi School (Independent, St. Louis)
Saint Teresa’s Academy (Independent, Kansas City)
Villa di Maria Montessori (Independent, St. Louis)

Sapling

Flance Early Learning Center (Independent, St. Louis)
Hixson Middle School (Webster Groves)
Nerinx Hall High School (Independent, St. Louis)
Shirlee Green Preschool (Independent, St. Louis)

Flowering Dogwood

Forsyth School (Independent, St. Louis)

View the list of 2025 MGS Honorees

View the list of 2024 MGS Honorees

View the list of 2023 MGS Honorees

View the list of 2022 MGS Honorees

View the list of 2021 MGS Honorees

Central High School

“At Central High School, sustainability initiatives have the potential to positively transform school communities by fostering environmental awareness, reducing costs, providing educational opportunities, and promoting a sense of community and responsibility. These changes contribute to a more vibrant and forward-thinking school environment.”

–Paul Epps, Teacher, Central High School, Springfield Public School District, Springfield, MO

Bridgeway Elementary

“As we continue to teach about sustainability, it’s exciting to see students gain a deeper understanding of how we are all connected – not just to each other, but to ALL living things above the ground and below it too!”

Jeanne Fernandez, Bridgeway Elementary

Chaminade College Preparatory School

“We are finally starting to notice the impact that we are having on our student body. Sustainability thinking is starting to work its way into the mindset of our administration, faculty and student body. Honest conversations around sustainability are becoming more common and less threatening as more of us begin to understand the complexity and interwovenness around these issues.”

Mark Laury, Chaminade College Preparatory School

Crestwood Elementary

“At Crestwood, we are building sustainability knowledge through education and hands-on activities. Our Environmental Club and Garden Leaders have been the backbone of bringing students, families, and the community together for substantial environmental impact. We hope students take these experiences and knowledge with them, to continue to be positive changemakers in the world around them.”

Jaclyn Jezik, Crestwood Elementary School

Flance ELC

“Sustainability and nature connection have been part of Forsyth School’s culture for many years, and it is rewarding to see how the concept of reciprocity has grown over time. Faculty and staff recently engaged in a yearlong professional development program that led to the creation of our own definition and principles of sustainability. Students continue to lead service-oriented projects that help make the world a better place. Forsyth’s family organization has established a sustainability committee to help reduce waste during school events. While Forsyth continues to empower children to be global citizens, we take pride in our local, everyday actions to live more lightly on planet Earth.”

Susan Zareh, Forsyth School

Forsyth School

“Members of the Forsyth School community strive to be better caretakers of the Earth with the help of the Missouri Green School’s sustainability suggestions. Last year, students led these efforts with their enthusiasm and developing knowledge through the Waste Ambassador group as well as through a “turn the lights off campaign.”

–Susan Zareh, Grade 6 Math Teacher and Sustainability Specialist, and Christine Torlina, Early Childhood Science Specialist, Forsyth School, Independent. St. Louis, MO

Hixson Middle

“The students at Hixson Middle School continue to work diligently to make positive changes to our building and community. They are always on the lookout for ways to make a positive contribution. One example of this includes how the students have continued with our classroom recycling initiative and are working to develop a plan to add in steps to reduce cafeteria food waste to make an even larger impact for our building.” Eric Hayes, Hixson Middle School

– Eric Hayes, Hixson Middle School

Nerinx Hall High School

“Nerinx Hall is incredibly proud to have achieved Level 4 (Sapling) status with Missouri Green Schools. This accomplishment reflects years of dedication from the entire Nerinx community and exemplifies our Loretto value of caring for the earth. By reducing energy use, water consumption and waste, and by fostering a culture of sustainability, we continue to honor our mission of environmental stewardship. Reaching this milestone has truly been a community effort, and we are excited to keep growing.”

Dr. Molly Grumich, Principal, Nerinx Hall High School

Normandy ECC

“At Normandy Early Learning Center, our mission is to provide an environment filled with exploration, excitement, and engaging, hands-on learning with real world connections for our students. Missouri Green Schools provides support that directly ties in with our mission, so we are of course excited and proud to be part of the green schools community!”

Sandra Davie, Normandy Early Childhood Center

Northeast Middle School

“Taking ownership in the care of our school environment means that we learn and teach values and skills to take home and into the community to help us obtain a world of security and tranquility, enabling us to BE the best version of ourselves in the best version of our world.”

Melanie Gomez, Northeast Middle School

Parkway North High School

“Parkway North is excited to develop a team that can lead our sustainability initiatives for years to come! Right now we are talking to interested staff members and reaching out to personnel at the district level to help us pursue our goals of sustainability going forward.”

Erin Derenbecher, Parkway North High School

Patrick Henry Downtown Academy

“At Patrick Henry Downtown Academy, we are committed to the holistic well-being of our scholars. Our scholars strive every day to care for their social-emotional needs, school environment, and the world around us. We incorporate daily movement into our routines, tend to our school garden and manage waste responsibly. Our staff and scholars are proud and continue to be excited to be a part of Missouri Green Schools. We will continue to strive toward excellence and to be change agents in making the world a healthier, greener place.” Dr. Chavon Curry, Principal, Patrick Henry Downtown Academy

– Dr. Chavon Curry, Principal, Patrick Henry Downtown Academy

Principia School

“Education for sustainability is broad and diverse in what it can look like; it’s heartening to see the many ways students are engaging with the ideas and how the faculty are leaning in. While there is always room to grow, it’s been a joy to see how Principia’s culture of continuous improvement transfers to the integration of sustainability throughout our curriculum.”

Lynne Scott, Principia School

St. Francis of Assisi School

“The Missouri Green Schools program has been a great way for the 4th and 5th grades at St. Francis of Assisi School to conduct investigations about energy at our school. We have discussed where energy comes from, how it gets to the school, and what we do with it. They have been able to do some investigation work on how much energy is used by different equipment at the school from a Raspberry Pi microcomputer to a Chromebook to a desktop PC. This work has led to conversations about sustainability and conservation with our students. We are working to expand to campus-wide energy use this year.”

Mike Herries, St. Francis of Assisi School

St. Teresa's Academy

“Empowering, educating, and elevating young women’s voices to shape a sustainable future is woven into the fabric of our community. We believe that the female perspective is to be valued and that the female voice is the catalyst necessary to enact change in our world. Missouri Green Schools provides Saint Teresa’s Academy with the resources and structure we need to keep working toward increased sustainability.”

–Sarah Holmes, St. Teresa’s Academy

The Summit Preparatory School

“At The Summit Preparatory School, the launch of our outdoor education initiative and pursuit of MGS recognition underscores the importance of green schools in fostering a sustainable future. By integrating nature into learning, we cultivate environmental stewardship and awareness, inspire curiosity, and promote well-being, empowering students to become thoughtful, eco-conscious leaders. As an organization, we are excited to pursue this opportunity and partner with MGS in this important work.”

Katie Heet, Head of School, The Summit Preparatory School

Villa di Maria Montessori School

“Inherent in Montessori is the deep consideration of the interconnectedness and interdependence of all living organisms. The scientifically developed, hands-on curriculum encourages children to explore interdisciplinary concepts related to the environment and analyze including human impact and responsibility. Since the founding of our school in 1967, Villa di Maria has proudly carried forward Dr. Maria Montessori’s original mission of cultivating a sense of stewardship for the natural world and to promote justice and peace.”

Martha Erickson, Villa di Maria Montessori School