Lots of "Green" Energy at Richmond Pre-school

By Nova Szoka

The Argonne Child Development Center (ACDC), located at 750 16th Ave., between Cabrillo and Fulton streets, is a preschool in the Richmond District and San Francisco's first "eco-friendly" school.

The school's facilities include solar panels and the Argonne Community Garden is located next to the school, on school district property. The solar panels and garden provide an educational lesson for students about environmental conservation in practice.

After being closed for renovations since January 2000, the school reopened on Jan. 23 of this year. The new facilities include a front office and kitchen area, classrooms and a play area. There are four classrooms total. Currently two are being used for the preschool's two classes, while the other two are used for special classes and as an indoor play room.

Architect Richard Parker of the firm 450 Architects came up with the design which, in addition to the solar panels, utilizes recycled materials and incorporates natural light into the classrooms. The new buildings replace a run-down building that was used for the past 25 years as a classroom for children from the ages of three to 15. Lisa Quan, M.S., the site manager or "principal" at the center, says the old bungalow was also equipped with solar panels but the new ones far outperform their predecessors. The 16 new panels are set into skylight-like enclosures visible in most of the school's staff rooms and classrooms.

The panels are made of photovoltaic (PV) cells; made of silicon which, when combined with other materials, exhibit electrical properties in the presence of light. When the cells are exposed to light their electrons get excited and move through the silicon, resulting in an electric current. Although direct sunlight is preferable for creating electricity, PV cells can also produce energy in foggy, overcast conditions. On a good day, each panel can produce about 100 watts of energy. The cells produce six percent of the school's electricity and to date have generated 651 kilowatt-hours of energy.

Solar panels are not the only thing that makes this preschool unique. The ACDC uses mixed-age groupings in its classrooms, which means each classroom has children in it from ages three to five, instead of rooms being divided based on age. Quan says this type of environment is great because it allows siblings to stay together in the same class. Also the older children are able to comfort and reassure their younger counterparts on the first day of school.

The ACDC's classrooms house 22 children apiece. The school maintains an eight-to-one student ratio, which allows each class to have one teacher and two paraprofessionals, or "assistants," present at all times.

The school caters to low- to moderate-income families but also includes a few tuition-based students. About 85 percent of the students are from the Richmond District while the rest come from the Sunset and Ingleside districts. Eighty-five percent of the students are Asian, Quan says, while the other 15 percent are mixed ethnicities.

Quan has directed the school since September 1997, shepherding it through the renovation process. While the new buildings were being constructed the school set up temporary classrooms in the Marina District. Receiving a masters degree from the University of Oregon in Early Childhood Education, Quan has experience with both teaching and administration. She taught preschool in Oregon for a few years before coming to the Bay Area, where she worked for seven years in non-profit childcare, serving as the director of San Francisco's first bilingual school program, the Wah Mei Preschool, located at 19th Avenue and Judah Street in the Sunset District.

The ACDC's long-term goals are to improve existing classrooms, expand its classrooms based on community needs and develop the landscaping in the front and rear of the school.

Next to the school is the Argonne Community Garden. Main Gardener Ed Dierauf says it started in the '70s and serves more than 50 families. The ACDC has a plot in the garden where students are growing carrots, tomatoes and flowers. Students also do outdoor projects in other open spaces around the school, planting native plants with help from Dierauf and paraprofessional Jean Scherr on the embankment next to the outdoor play area.

Since it is on school district land, Dierauf says the garden has a special affinity towards education and thinks that both garden and solar panels are a "great statement" in regards to bringing ecological consciousness closer to home.

Students from other schools have plots in the garden as well. A group of elementary school children from the Argonne Elementary School are growing chard, lettuce, kale, broccoli and zucchini in the garden, which they donate to an outreach program at the Richmond Hills Manor on Geary Boulevard that provides food for homeless families.

For more information about the Argonne Child Development Center, call (415) 750-8617.

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