OSPI, North Shore School District praise McKinstry for partnerships with K-12 schools
May 2010
During a North Shore School District board meeting attended by the State of Washington’s Office of Public Instruction (OSPI), representatives of the Renton School District, and other prominent educational officials, McKinstry highlighted its unique public/private relationship with the Secondary Academy for Success (SAS).
The event, which took place at School District headquarters, included a detailed presentation by McKinstry that walked attendees through the program and its educational component. It also highlighted the active role McKinstry has played in helping students acquire the necessary life-skills training to participate in the emerging green economy. Additionally, the company has been a driving force behind curriculum development for the SAS Environmental Technology and Design course, which will be used this fall to erect a new SAS building.
The board was effusive in its praise of McKinstry as it thanked the company for its partnership and its contribution to SAS of $10,000. After the meeting, McKinstry’s Dean Baker presented SAS with a check for $5,000 in support of the schools continued sustainable efforts.
SAS was founded in 1973 to serve students in grades 7-12. The Academy draws students from the District’s six junior high schools and three comprehensive high schools whose learning style is not compatible with traditional programs. McKinstry relationship with the District has included a number of projects within its three administrative facilities, including the continuing services of its Knowledge Response Center which actively manages, through InfoCentre, the District’s energy expenditures and alerts the district whenever its facilities fail to operate within acceptable energy and environmental parameters.
In 2008 McKinstry further emphasized its commitment to the education community by hiring Dr. Dolores Gibbons, a former North Shore School District school superintendant, to collaborate with school districts and higher educational institutions to integrate sustainability, advancing technologies, and green collar career paths into their curricula.
McKinstry strongly believes in the power of education to spur innovation in the emergent green economy and help the nation maintain its competitiveness on a global scale. According to CEO Dean Allen: “Our ability to succeed as McKinstry or as any company in the green economy is directly related to the number of skilled, competent individuals who are available to perform this groundbreaking work... We think it is vitally important to capture the imaginations of those just entering the workforce about the tremendous opportunity in this new, energy efficient, green economy.”
