Strategic Plan | Prioritizing Sustainability
Burke’s operations and facilities teams have been partnering with the Building & Grounds Committee to explore and expand sustainability for the campus.
Our strategic goal, Connection: Caring for our Community and Planet, emphasizes prioritizing institutional practices that support environmental sustainability. Over the past two years, great progress has been made, including:
- A campus-wide assessment of natural gas and electric appliances.
- Partnering with Epicurean, our food service provider, on reducing waste.
- Expanding the successful rain catchment system by 9 barrels during the summer of 2024. We now have 14 barrels across campus that provide irrigation for landscaping and plants via solar pumps.
- Moved to drought-tolerant, native plants in the renovated library courtyard and across campus.
- Replaced all #915 light fixtures to LED in summer 2024 with a projected annual energy reduction of 108,600 k-watts/year (59% reduction) in usage.
- Automated all thermostats to energy-efficient mode.
- Implemented an expansive recycling program through Ridwell for textiles, mixed-use plastics, and household items.
- Increased intentionality of repurposing items. This year’s Festival hay bales were picked up by a local farm and enjoyed by their pigs!
Patricia Neville, Director of Finance and Operations, said, “It has been an exciting time as our sustainability initiatives deliver measurable results. We are coordinating campus-wide to consider sustainability in the acquisition phase rather than looking to recycle or reuse after the fact.”
Burke's mission is to educate, encourage and empower girls. Our school combines academic excellence with an appreciation for childhood so that students thrive as learners, develop a strong sense of self, contribute to community, and fulfill their potential, now and throughout life.
Burke's admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.