D65 Sustainability: Back to School

Foster School opened on August 24, 2026 and we're proud of the many sustainability features, aligned with our Healthy Environments and Sustainable Operations Goals.

Key Sustainable Design highlights include:

• Our first D65 school with solar panels on the roof, which are expected to produce 199 kWh of electricity (~20% of the school's electricity). It's the 2nd largest solar array in Evanston.
• Operates as an all electric school above 10 degrees Fahrenheit, including all electric kitchen equipment.

• Will achieve at least LEED Silver certification.
• Our first D65 school with Electric Vehicle (EV) charging stations.
• Multiple educational wall cut outs throughout the school to show students what's behind the wall.
• Outdoor Learning Gardens co-designed with Foster families, 5th ward community and staff including hosting a community planting day on July 11, 2026.

D65 is excited that starting on the 1st day of school, Foster is using all reusable products in their cafeteria! This includes lunch trays, milk cups, and utensils. We are also proud to be composting and recycling in the lunchroom.

These purchases were made possible thanks to the following supporters: PlasticFreeRestaurants, the Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County (SWANCC) (our long-time partner in sustainability efforts), and our D65 Nutrition Services and Sustainability teams. We are so grateful and excited to start this journey!

Aligned with our Sustainable Operations Goals to transition to all reusables in the lunchrooms and eliminate food-related single-use plastics by 2050. We're making great strides with reusable utensils in JEH Early Childhood and expanding reusables to Foster this school year.

Great news, starting on the 1st day of this school year, Positive Connections rolled out 10 new electric school buses serving all our double routes to maximize the number of students being served by the new buses! Keep an eye out for the "Electric" in blue on the sides of the bus as they're rolling around town.

D65 now has 11 electric school buses (approximately 20% of buses) serving our students. It's great progress towards our Transportation & Mobility Goal of 100% EV school buses by 2050.

D65 hosted 2 days of free shopping for school supplies and classroom library books at Bessie Rhodes and Kingsley on Aug 19 and 20. Open to D65 staff, SACC, Books & Breakfast, YOU and Book Nooks, we had over 65 visitors from 15 schools and Books & Breakfast join us.

Over the summer, we collected remaining supplies and classroom library books from Bessie Rhodes, Kingsley and the Willard TWI program and decided to pilot setting a "free store". Our goal is to reuse as much as possible and give back to our staff and local community.

We are planning to host 2 more shopping days on September 14 at Rhodes and September 16 at Kingsley from 3:30-5:30pm to continue to reuse and redistribute supplies and books to staff and local community organizations. Sharing is caring!

Celebrating our positive impact from lunchroom composting and recycling in our schools in the 25-26 school year! Together, we composted over 280,153 lbs (140 tons) of waste and 375,185 trays with 5,898 students participating at 17 schools. We avoided 100 metric tons of carbon emissions by composting instead of landfilling our waste, that's equal to 1,654 tree seedlings growing for 10 years! We're proud of the progress we're making towards our Sustainable Operations Goals.

Thank you to our lunchroom supervisors, custodians, nutrition services, teachers, school leaders, staff and our D65 climate action teams, who collectively make this a daily experience for our D65 students. Together, we’re doing our part to create a healthy planet!

In 2026, our D65 schools mobilized to gather leftover school supplies that would typically go to the landfill from May 27 to June 6. We encouraged sharing and reuse within our schools and D65 Families and recovered $750 of school supplies to offset purchasing new supplies!

6 Participating Schools in 2025: Dawes, Dewey, JEH ECC, Oakton, Orrington, Walker

Remaining items were donated to the D65 Family Wellness Program, Art Makers Outpost & Hive, and SCARCE. A big thank you to all who participated in our D65 End of School Clean Out and giving back to our schools, families and community. Thanks to you as our teachers, staff, caregivers and volunteers who helped make this year's clean out a success!

Join the D65 Climate Cycle team for the September 20 North Shore Century and help raise $20,000 for expanded bike parking at District 65 schools and hands-on pedal-powered sustainability programming.

Riders can choose from a special 12-mile family-friendly route for D65 students and families, as well as 25, 50, 62, and 100-mile routes, and participants are encouraged to create a fundraising page and rally friends and family around their ride.

Two easy steps:

1. Register for the North Shore Century

• Use discount code D65GBT26 for 20% off the 12-mile Family Ride
• Use discount code D65NSC26 for 20% off the 25, 50, 62 or 100-mile routes.
• Not riding? You can still participate as a virtual fundraiser or make a donation.

2. Set up your fundraising page on Givebutter.

We've secured a $5,000 matching gift, so donations are now being matched dollar-for-dollar!

It's a great time to get your fundraising page out to friends, family, neighbors, and colleagues. Every dollar they contribute while the match is available will have twice the impact toward our $20,000 goal for expanded D65 bike parking and pedal-powered programming.

If you haven't started reaching out yet, we've put together some simple fundraising tips to make it easy.

Spread the word about the September 20 North Shore Century as well—we'd love to continue growing the D65 riding contingent alongside the fundraising effort. Friends and family can learn more about the campaign and how to participate on the Climate Cycle website.

Questions? Reach out to joey@climatecycle.org.

D65 encourages students, families and staff to walk, bike and roll to our schools, aligned with our Sustainable Modes of Transportation Goals.

Check out our refreshed D65 Student Walk/Bike Routes including suggested Safe Routes to School developed in collaboration with City of Evanston staff, including our local police departments, to provide families with suggested walk, bike, and roll routes to get to and from school safely.

The RTA, Metra, Pace, and CTA have coordinated K-12 student fares for the new school year: students now ride CTA and Pace year-round at a reduced 75¢ per ride, matching Metra's policy. Additionally, students ride free system-wide on Mon., Aug. 24, to mark the start of the school year.

Tips from the National Safety Council: Slow down in school zones, parks, and residential areas; stop and yield to pedestrians in crosswalks; and never pass a stopped school bus with flashing lights and its stop arm out.

Please update your school's contact information for the 26-27 school year, including:

• Climate Action Team Chair(s)
• School Garden Team Chair(s)
• Climate Club
• School PTA and Newsletter emails

Join Evanston Transit Alliance’s Slow Rolls for Safer Streets, a new series of casual, family-friendly bike rides open to all ages. On the first through fourth Wednesday of each month starting this August, they'll set out on a relaxed 3–4 mile loop ride to build community and support for better bike routes in Evanston.

These free rides are a great way to meet neighbors, get comfortable riding as part of a group, and become familiar with important routes you can use to get around town by bike. They're also a chance to talk with local safe streets advocates and learn how you can help make Evanston safer for biking by supporting the City of Evanston's upcoming Bike Plan Update, which will identify where improvements need to be made to create a city-wide, all ages and abilities bike network.

Sign up for emails from ETA on their website to get more information about these rides, any potential weather-related updates, and calls to action for supporting the City of Evanston Bike Plan Update. You can also email them with any questions or ideas about pedestrian, bike, or transit issues in Evanston at evanstontransitalliance@gmail.com

Registration is now open for the 2026–27 Illinois Green Schools Project, a program that helps schools lead hands-on sustainability projects with students and staff. Schools are paired with a sustainability mentor, receive resources and support, and can apply for up to $1,000 in mini-grant funding. Watch this video to learn more about the program and register by October 9!

The Evanston Community Fridges are looking for community members to help shop for, clean, and deliver food for the three community fridges in Evanston. Evanston’s three community fridges provide free food and toiletries to any community member, anytime. To read about the donation guidelines and fridge locations, please visit https://www.evanstoncommunityfridges.com. To learn how to get more involved, please email evanstoncommunityfridge@gmail.com.

ESCCA, the Evanston School Children’s Clothing Association, is hard at work fulfilling its historic mission - to make sure no Evanston child misses school for lack of warm clothing or shoes. ESCCA opened its doors to District 65 children just before the start of the school year so they could visit our store and choose warm clothing, coats, shoes, boots, socks, undergarments, and more. ESCCA has received over 150 referrals so far this school year.

There are many ways to get involved with ESCCA:

• Consider purchasing something from our Amazon Wishlist which we continue to update with the items we need most. Click HERE!

• Contribute financially to ESCCA to help us purchase clothing for the shop. Click HERE!

• Drop off warm clothing in The Clothing Bin - located at 1500 McDaniel Drive (behind the D65 Building)

• Volunteer with ESCCA!

• Illinois Schoolyard Habitat Action Grant Earn up to $2000 for the development of wildlife habitat at your school! Projects must emphasize student/youth involvement with planning, development and maintenance and increase the educational and wildlife habitat values of the site. Apply by Dec. 2.
• SWANCC Waste Reduction Grants are a great opportunity for schools, libraries, and nonprofits that serve SWANCC member communities. Funds can help cover the cost of materials and equipment that support waste-smart projects and sustainability initiatives. Apply for $200 for Clean Up Event Support, $300 Right NOW! Student Action Grant or $1,000 Waste Reduction Project Grant. Open year round.

• D65 Sustainability Website
• D65 Sustainability Plan (adopted April 2025)
• D65 Sustainability Goals Annual Progress Report
• D65 Sustainability Data Dashboard
• D65 Sustainability and Garden Resources Library
• D65 Climate Action & Garden Community Contact List
• D65 Sustainability Newsletter Archive