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“We are committed to lead by example. Discovery Magnet School is a model that provides a state-of-the-art facility in which our kids will learn and also a building and curriculum in which students interact with the environment and nature so they become environmental ambassadors for their kids and grandkids,” said Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch. “We have great teachers teaching an innovative curriculum to motivated students in a green, healthy building.”
In school terms, LEED, short for Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design, is like a report card for buildings, demonstrating to the community that a facility is built and operated in a way that supports the health and well-being of occupants, its neighbors and saves energy, resources and money.
Principal Sangeeta Bella said Discovery School follows “a teaching model of ‘hands on, minds on.’ We are teaching the whole child, and that is what I find fun about this school.”
That includes outside lessons where kids identify species of trees and animal tracks in the property around the school.
“We need to be explorers and adventurers if we are going to be a science magnet school,” she said.
Fairchild Wheeler Interdistrict Magnet High School and the Discovery School, which are both STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) schools, are the first of five schools that will be LEED Gold certified.
The program has created 3,000 jobs and, when completed, 13,000 city students will attend new or renovated schools, which is more than half of Bridgeport kids. Nearly $730 million has been invested in current, completed and future school construction projects.
To achieve LEED certification, a facility must have “green” and sustainable construction and serve as a teaching tool for the children.
According to science teacher Mary Servino, Discovery as a STEM school focuses on sustainability. The school has a curriculum based on environmental education, a single-stream recycling program and an environmental club “so students can grow up and become leaders in helping clean up our environment.”
Servino said she is looking forward to the spring thaw because she conducts many of her lessons outside of the classroom so kids can experience “everything that is around this school and know how beautiful this area is.”
In addition to Fairchild Wheeler and Discover, Harding High School, Roosevelt and Longfellow schools are tracking to be LEED Gold certified.
The Interdistrict Discovery Magnet School, on the Discovery Museum grounds, serves nearly 500 children from Bridgeport, Easton, Fairfield, Milford, Monroe, Shelton, Stratford and Trumbull in grades pre-K through 8.
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