By Mandy McFarland Editor
NAPPANEE — Wa-Nee Community Schools are looking to reduce their energy costs without compromising the schools’ learning environment.
At their regular meeting last Monday, Oct. 26, the board voted to hire Energy Education, Inc. to help with the process of reducing the school corporation’s energy costs and its carbon footprint.

Energy Education representatives Dave Glessner and Roger Thornton gave a brief presentation to the board highlighting their procedure and policies. Energy Education requires each of its clients, most of which are K-12 school districts, to hire an Energy Education Specialist. This individual preferably is someone who already works for the school district and is therefore already familiar with the inner workings. This person will be in charge of identifying changes that need to be made as far as energy consumption.
The first step would be to compile a list of ideas from which to work. Energy Education will remain very involved, visiting Wa-Nee weekly, especially throughout the first year to track their progress. The next step would be to implement the program, which Glessner said will take a little effort on the part of all Wa-Nee school employees. These will be things like turning off a light when leaving a room, keeping thermostats at a certain temperature and other measures. He went on to say that while these things may sound simple enough, long-established habits can be hard to break and new ones difficult to form.
“How do you get an entire school corporation to do the stuff that we have trouble getting our spouses and families to do at home,” he said.
The third step will be leadership and focus. This is where the Energy Education Specialist, or Energy Coach, will come in. This person will be in charge of making the school corporation aware of areas where they are spending too much in the area of energy, and how they can cut back on those costs without cutting back on the quality of the learning environment.
“It’s not about keeping kids in the dark or cold in the winter,” Glessner said.
The fourth step Glessner listed is measurement and verification. This requires a specific software program similar to Microsoft Excel, but which is capable of adjusting for energy consumption based on weather and other contributing factors. The Energy Coach will be in charge of entering data like monthly utility bills into this program.
Glessner said that as Wa-Nee implements the program they will not only save millions of dollars in energy costs, they will reduce their carbon footprint, or environmental impact based on energy consumption.
About Energy
Education
Energy Education, Inc. has been around for about 24 years and currently has more than 1,000 clients nationally. Of these, 95 percent are school districts like Wa-Nee. Others are large universities, large churches and some community colleges.
More information is available at www.energyeducation.com.
Budget
The board also voted to adopt the 2010 school budget, which includes figures of $21,757,446 for the General Fund; $6,177,285 for the debt service fund; $319,175 for the Retirement/severance bond debt service fund; $6,599,987 for the capital projects fund; $2,015,550 for the school transportation fund; $380,000 for the bus replacement fund; and $200,000 for Special Education Preschool.
Healthy School
Award
Tiffany Kenyon of Elkhart General Health Care Systems presented three Wa-Nee schools with the Healthy School awards as follows: NorthWood High School received a bronze award; NorthWood Middle School received a silver award and Nappanee Elementary School received a silver award.
The program is a joint effort between Elkhart General Health Care Systems and Goshen Health systems. Its purpose is to reduce childhood obesity in Elkhart County by ensuring healthy food and beverage choices are available to all students.