Student group Saving the Sea urges Glendale to add high‑school sustainability elective, public CAP dashboard and student advisory council

On June 4, Saving the Sea, a student‑led nonprofit, presented research to the Glendale Sustainability Commission and urged the city and district to expand sustainability education for high‑school students and create a public Climate Action Plan (CAP) dashboard.

Natalina Agopoglu, lead policy director for Saving the Sea, told the commission the organization’s local team spent a year interviewing students and teachers, reviewing curricula and assessing city programs. “The class would focus on Glendale’s local environmental conditions,” she said, describing a one‑semester elective grounded in local topics such as greenhouse‑gas emissions, water systems, wildfire risk and urban heat.

Lance Mahome, a policy analyst for Saving the Sea, summarized the group’s finding that “there is a critical gap between sustainability education at the elementary level and at the high school level.” He said the group’s review found that, while the Glendale Unified School District enrolls more than 25,000 K–12 students, the district has no specifically dedicated high‑school sustainability elective in the curriculum review conducted by the presenters.

Saving the Sea proposed four linked steps: (1) a semester‑long environmental science and policy elective with a capstone project; (2) a grade‑specific field‑trip program using existing local sites (for example, waste‑management facilities and botanical gardens); (3) a public, school‑facing CAP dashboard with starter metrics — greenhouse‑gas emissions, building energy use, waste‑diversion rate, water consumption and transportation share — updated quarterly; and (4) a student advisory council with representatives from each district high school to advise the commission and present student capstone proposals.

The presenters outlined a low‑cost pilot timeline: curriculum development and teacher professional development in 2026–27, a trial class at one high school in fall 2027 with 20–30 students, and a district review in fall 2027 if the pilot succeeds. Saving the Sea offered its research, curriculum support and help building the dashboard at no cost.

A junior at Crescent Valley High School who addressed the commission during Q&A said her school currently has limited AP environmental science offerings and suggested a smaller pilot or module within existing classes to test interest. “We only have one teacher at CV who teaches AP environmental science,” the student said, noting low enrollment and asking how a new elective would differ from AP coursework.

Commissioners praised the presentation and urged coordination with Glendale Unified School District officials. A commissioner suggested giving students a menu of hands‑on projects (for example, turf removal, food‑waste programs or school solar benchmarking) so capstone work produces tangible local outcomes.

City staff told the commission a public‑facing CAP dashboard is already in the procurement pipeline: the sustainability office has submitted contract paperwork to the city’s finance department and expects, pending the new budget cycle, to sign the agreement after July 1 and begin work on dashboard development.

Next steps: commissioners encouraged presenters to take recommendations to the Glendale Unified School District and to return with pilot details. The sustainability office said the internal CAP team will continue data collection and report further progress at its August quarterly meeting.