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| 4/21/2009 12:57:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article | | Energy-saving ideas discussed | AKRON - The Tippecanoe Valley School Board held a special meeting before its regular meeting Monday night.
Phil Yuska and Scott J. Zigmond, of Performance Services, gave an hour-and-a-half presentation to the board concerning ways the middle school and high school could become more energy efficient.
A potential energy-saving project was first brought to the board in November but was delayed because of the ongoing project at the Burket Educational Center.
Tippecanoe Valley Schools Superintendent Brett Boggs said that with the potential of federal stimulus money going to schools for "green" projects, the board wanted to learn as much as it could about alternative energy solutions.
Yuska, a business development manager, said his company's goals were to improve the learning environment, minimize noise, lower CO2 levels and to save school corporations money.
During a Power Point presentation, Yuska showed the board that in 2008 the total utilities for the high school and middle school were $380,000.
Those two buildings are on the same meter.
Yuska said he believed improvements to the two buildings could cut the amount of BTU usage 20,000 watts and save the school about $95,000 per year.
Yuska said the energy savings could pay for the project in about 10 years.
If the board were to go through with such a plan, Yuska said his company would install a new fully automatic system with a graphical workstation at the middle school.
This would allow maintenance people to see where temperature variations were taking place in the building and allow for them to be changed easily.
The middle school would also have changes made to its chill and hot water system as well as all of its air handling units.
"Will this allow us to cool just certain rooms during summer school sessions where we use only part of the building," asked Assistant Superintendent Dr. Daniel Kramer.
Yuska said those upgrades would also such selective heating and cooling.
The high school would see less improvements made as it has a newer system though a graphical workstation would be put in place as well as changes to its chill water system.
Yuska said the project wouldn't be a major one.
"We're tweaking the buildings for the most part," said Yuska.
The board also heard an update on possible geothermal solutions for the schools.
Zigmond, a vice president of sales and marketing with Performance Services, gave a presentation on the possibility of the school buying a wind turbine.
Since the board met with Performance Services, the plan for a potential wind turbine has changed.
Rather than powering itself then selling the rest of the energy to the local utilities companies, Zigmond suggested that if a wind turbine was purchased that all the energy be sold back to the grid.
Zigmond said changes in legislation as well as uncertainty of what future legislation may come down the pipe caused the shift.'
"The financials make sense," said Zigmond. "It's a way to increase revenue without increasing taxes."
Boggs said the board would need a week to review all of the information given at Monday's special meeting before they could decide on the next course of action.
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Valley School Board Hears Report On Yearly Progress
Daniel Riordan
Times-Union Staff Writer
AKRON - Tippecanoe Valley School Board listened to a presentation on the Annual Yearly Progress given by Curriculum Director Angie Miller at its Monday night meeting at Akron Elementary School.
As a corporation, Tippecanoe Valley Schools met the requirements for a fifth straight year with 70 percent of students making improvements in areas such as math and language arts.
Akron Elementary was noted for "exemplary progress" as they met all 17 areas of improvement.
Mentone did not make AYP for the first time in seven years. The middle school failed to make AYP for the second year in a row and is on "academic watch." The high school also failed to make AYP though it had in 2006 and 2007.
While those schools failed to meet AYP standards, they did increase the percentage of students making improvements.
"The middle school and the high school are on a really good path," said Miller. "They're going to continue to concentrate on what they missed."
Superintendent Brett Boggs said that the standards are improving for schools to meet despite what new state Superintendent Dr. Tony Bennett said.
"One of the things I wanted to comment on was the new superintendent was critical of Indiana schools," said Boggs. "He said we need to raise the bar but we are raising the bar."
Boggs said AYP passing bars are going up every year.
"I felt our scores were good," said Boggs, also noting the need for improvement.
While the board proved changes to its 2009-2010 master school calendar, it didn't come without some discussion.
Because of new state regulations getting rid of half-day, teacher in-service days, Jan. 11 and May 28 are now full days for students. Oct. 22 went from being an early dismissal day to a parent-teacher conference day.
Oct 23. is now an emergency make-up day as well as student fall break.
The board took issue with March 25, a Thursday, being a day for parent-teacher conferences with no students and the next day, March 26, being a full day of school.
While board members expressed dissatisfaction with kids potentially going to school for three days, having a day off, then going again the changes to the calendar being made.
"I don't like having the schedule being three days then one off," said board member Hal Hoffman.
Having parent-teacher conferences on a Monday or Friday was discussed as was the possibility that it may cut down on the number of parents showing up as well as create extended vacations.
Changes to the different student, faculty and athletic handbooks were reviewed Monday night. No major changes in language or policy were made though the topics of electronics and dress code were breached.
The final student day was mentioned at Monday's meeting. June 1 will be the last day for students as the school year had to be extended one day due to inclement weather during the winter.
Graduation is set for June 7, a Sunday, at 2:45 p.m.
Student representatives Susy Contreras and Stacie Hoffman told the board prom for the high school will be May 9 from 7:30 to 11 p.m. and the senior trip is set to head out at 3:30 a.m. Thursday.
In old business, the board heard a presentation on the ongoing guaranteed energy savings project at Burket.
The project is expected to be completed on time and there will be a weekly meeting held to give updates on the progress.
Among the personnel moves approved in the consent agenda, the board accepted the resignation of swim coach Ben Busby and the assignment of Emily Finken as varsity girls volleyball coach for the high school.
After the board listened to the Spotlight on Valley presented by Akron Principal Blaine Conley, which recognized dozens of students from the elementary school level, he thanked the board for the implementation of all-day kindergarten.
Tippecanoe Valley High School's building trades program, with instructor Wes Backus, will host an open house May 17 from 1 to 4 p.m. at the home built for Tom and Alissa Worsham. The home is located at 20245 Elm Road, Tippecanoe.
The board also approved the claims and payroll and listened as Boggs gave the school corporation's financial report.
The board's next regular meeting is May 11 at 7:30 p.m. at Mentone Elementary School.
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