The LeRoy L. Wood Elementary School in Fairhaven has become the first school in Massachusetts to achieve Verified Leader School status for sustainability performance by The Collaborative for High Performance Schools. It is only the second school in the nation to earn this designation.

Designed by Cambridge-based HMFH Architects, the 450-student school opened in September 2013 and serves pre-kindergarteners to fifth graders. The building’s design utilizes daylighting, high-performance heating and cooling systems and flexible learning spaces.

The Massachusetts School Building Authority, a partner in funding the LeRoy L. Wood Elementary School, provides additional state funding to communities whose school construction projects achieve Verified Leader School status.

"We are pleased to be honored as one of the top educational facilities for sustainability in the U.S., and proud to be named as the first in our state to earn this benchmark leader status," Robert Baldwin, Fairhaven’s superintendent of schools, said in a statement. "Our success at the LeRoy Wood Elementary School proves that school buildings can be designed efficiently and economically without a premium cost addition for sustainable design."