FUSD Receives "Energy Lighthouse Award"

At the June 3, 2009 Board Meeting, Fontana Unified School District was presented with the "Energy Lighthouse Award" from Energy Education for our district's continued excellence in environmental and financial resource stewardship.

Our district first entered into Energy Education's energy management program seven years ago.  The program endeavors to change people's attitudes about the use of energy.  Then Energy Manager Simon Long (aka the Energy Czar, who retired in June 2008) really helped to jumpstart our district's participation in the program.  Mr. Long performed energy audits at our schools, often in the middle of the night and on weekends, to make sure employees had properly turned-off unused equipment.  Superintendent Cali Olsen-Binks said she remembered that when she worked out at a school site, they would find happy face notes or sad face notes depending upon whether they had powered down properly.  "We used to say we had been "Simon-ized," said Mrs. Olsen-Binks.

New Energy Manager Juli Neermann has kept the program going strong, continuing with energy audits and looking for energy saving opportunities at our schools, as well as educating staff on ways their efforts can contribute to reducing energy costs.  Said Mrs. Neermann, "To demonstrate how well we have been doing the last few months, I saw a tremendous difference between spring break shutdown and winter break shutdown.  Not only did I see so many more pieces of equipment shut-off and unplugged but once I started analyzing our utilities, we had 124,000 kilowatt hours less used in spring than in winter - usually in spring, we start to use more.  That's a huge difference!"

Dr. Richard Stedry, Deputy Superintendent of Business Services, said that our district receives inquiries from other school districts, both in the state and outside, because our district has such an exemplary energy management program.  Marc Starkey, Vice President of Energy Education, said that of the 55 school districts in the state of California participating in this program, that "without exaggeration, Fontana is the top program in the state.  You should be very, very proud."

Fontana Unified School District has one of the largest carbon footprints in this area.  Thanks to our energy management processes, we have not only been able to be good stewards of the environment but we have achieved more than $12.5 million in energy cost avoidance over the last 90 months.  Mrs. Laura Mancha, President of FUSD's Board of Education, said, "We really need to give credit to our teachers and staff, because without them, we would definitely not be this successful."

 

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