On a recent afternoon, construction crews endured the bitter cold as they worked on the shell of the new Paradise Elementary School in the Pequea Valley School District.

The new school in progress sits behind the current Paradise Elementary on Route 30 and Belmont Road.

You can see the shape of the gymnasium, the art room, offices and classrooms. The rooms are bare concrete now, but in 2009 the sounds of children will fill them.

"I'm very pleased with it," school board President Norman Hershey said.

The work is slightly ahead of schedule.

And, the $20.9 million school could become the first school in Lancaster County to meet the gold certification of the Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design — a green-rating system created by the U.S. Green Building Council.

This project is so green that 80 percent to 90 percent of construction materials discarded at the site are being recycled.

Whether a design meets the basic certification, silver, gold or platinum under LEED depends on a point system that considers the number of green features in a building.

Building "green" schools is a growing trend nationwide.

The renovation and expansion of Manheim Township High School is also a green project.

Manheim Township school officials expect it to earn at least a silver certification. And, the district plans to use "green practices" with its expansion project at Bucher Elementary School, said Joe Kurjiaka, director of operations and planning with the Manheim Township School District.

Among the green features in the design of Paradise: sensors to detect sunlight and dim artificial lights in classrooms. A white-colored roof to deflect the sun and lower the cost of air conditioning. A gray-water system to harvest rain and reuse it to flush toilets.

Crews have already buried the geothermal system in the ground. It will use the constant temperatures of the earth to cool and heat buildings.

Beneath the earth are 105 wells buried 225 feet to 300 feet in the ground, and a geothermal vault (a large concrete room that stores the fluid) that serves as the heart of the system.

Water will circulate through pipes and regulate the temperature inside the school.

Each of the school's 30 classrooms will have its own geothermal unit.

While going green costs more initially, it saves money in energy costs down the road, school officials say.

And paying attention to green building practices has other rewards.

The district will receive $352,500 for meeting the standards of at least a silver-certified green school.

The district will also get a boost from the state, about $3.53 million.

Construction at Paradise Elementary also meant preserving the earth around the new school.

The building follows the slope of the landscape to have minimal land disturbance.

Kindergarten-through-fifth-grade students will walk up a ramp to enter the two-story academic wing of their new school.

Each of the four kindergarten classrooms will have its own doorway into a secured playground.

And pupils in all of the school's grades will have a view of the countryside through large energy-efficient windows.

The school is more than its green features. It will also bring technology updates.

"Part of the educational process is exposing kids to what the future is going to be for them," Hershey said. "Part of that is a global economy and advances in technology."

Paradise Elementary was built in 1927 and renovated in 1954, 1964 and 1984.

The 89,000-square-foot new school will consolidate the current Paradise and Leacock Elementary student populations and house about 400 students from the two schools. The new school could eventually provide for an enrollment of up to 675 students.

After consolidation, Leacock Elementary, at 3656 Old Philadelphia Pike, will close. The Leacock school, about three miles from the new school's location, was built 1954 and renovated in 1958 and 1990.

No decision has been made on what the district will do with the existing Paradise Elementary, business manager John Bowden said.

CONTACT US: rmeadows@LNPnews.com or 481-6025