Stormwater Quality Projects Incentive Grant Program

This project's target audience is: Community: Residents of the communities which border James Lane Allen Elementary School. K-12 Schools: Students and teachers at James Lane Allen Elementary School. Seven teachers and approximately 210 students will be directly targeted by the grant. Curricula developed with this grant will be utilized for at least 5 years. The existing stream restoration projects at multiple Fayette County Public Schools will be utilized as part of the curriculum development. In addition, the managers of the James Lane Allen Elementary Class B Incentive grant project selected for Feasibility Grant funding have agreed to partner with UK and this educational grant to utilize the design and construction of these projects in the curriculum. 1) PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SESSIONS: Four professional development sessions will be conducted for the 3rd and 4th grade teachers. The workshops will be held in the afternoon so teachers will miss half of the school day and receive a stipend for half a day. Participants will be introduced to the stormwater quality and quantity issues facing Lexington, tour completed project sites (Millcreek Elementary, Coca-Cola, Lexmark) and be engaged in lessons that are focused on the essential questions developed by the school's teachers. The curriculum for the teachers and students will be based on the 2010 Kentucky Core Content for Assessment, especially the Big Ideas found within the standards. These Big Ideas encompass more specific topics such as ecology and aquatic environments, the quality of water within aquatic environments, the use of biota as measures of water quality, the importance of wetlands, how best management practices can improve stormwater quality, reduce nonpoint source pollution, reduce impervious area, and improve water quality within cities. After teachers attend the sessions, they will implement lessons in the classroom. They will engage their students in projects on the best or most feasible ways to improve the stream that flows by the school. The students will investigate ways to improve the water quality and riparian zone. They will examine plants, animals, and their own conservation and stewardship behaviors. The students will make PowerPoint or other presentations for Ridgewater/EcoGro professionals, who will be conducting a feasibility study for the school site. 2) WEBSITE: The program will utilize the website developed for the FY2011 UKRF Incentive Grant project, for the addition of the student presentations. Each class will develop their own wiki pages to showcase students' work. 3) COMMUNITY EDUCATION: Members of the community surrounding James Lane Allen will participate in the culminating event held by the students at their school. Community members will learn about nonpoint sources of pollution and pollutants of concern in the impaired watersheds and about controlling runoff from impervious land use areas such as parking lots. Lexmark has offered to let the school community use their facilities as a learning laboratory. Lexmark has installed numerous stormwater water quality BMPs and plans to install more. The teachers and interested community members will take a field trip to the Lexmark campus.