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Longtime teacher urges Ferguson-Florissant to ditch Styrofoam and expand sustainability education
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Summary
Ryan Young, a 20-year educator at Ferguson Middle School, urged the board to stop using Styrofoam trays, reduce bus idling, expand sustainability programming and teach reuse to students, offering to help implement programs that would save money and build student responsibility.
Ryan Young, a teacher at Ferguson Middle School who has led a sustainability and outdoor-education class, used his public comment to press the board for districtwide environmental changes.
Young described seeing single-use plastics and Styrofoam trays in cafeterias, students throwing away food, idling diesel buses and electronics tossed into dumpsters. He said the district should move to reusable serving items, create more programming to reduce waste, and teach students responsibility and appreciation for resources. "We need to have reusable items," Young said, and offered his assistance to help the district save money and start more programming if given the opportunity. He noted this was his third time speaking on the topic and urged continued attention to environmental practices in schools.
Board members thanked Young for raising the issue; the board did not vote on any new sustainability policy at the meeting.
