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GoogleDuring a joint meeting between representatives from both parties on Sept. 28, Bruce Tamisiea, the gathering's facilitator, told those who'd attended, "SMU is looking for our next what we call 'wow project.' That's something so big, so audacious that nobody thinks a town this size could take it on."
School board members narrowed their potential wish list to three top priorities Monday night. They included, in order:
* Green energy -- wind or geothermal
* High quality free preschool for all students
* Technology
The board approved keeping its proposed wish list items very broad-based in definition initially, allowing for the details to eventually be fine-tuned over time. SMU board members, meanwhile, are scheduled to discuss these proposals when they meet on Dec. 7.
The list
Spencer school board members agreed that their top-ranked project should explore all facets of green energy, including wind and geothermal. As Superintendent Greg Ebeling informed board members that the district spends approximately $250,000 a year on natural gas costs, ensuing discussion had board members estimating a 70 percent savings if all of the district's buildings were to eventually go geothermal.
"Going totally green should be our goal," Bob Whittenburg said to his peers' unanimous approval. " ... (That), to me, would be the most impactful."
Prior Spencer school board members investigated, and turned down, the possibility of harnessing the area's wind in 2002. Their study was due, in part, to a pledge for financial assistance from Dr. William Follows, who first approached district administrators and school board members with the prospect of a 750-kilowatt wind turbine in 1999. Besides offering possible finances, the environmental enthusiast also proposed assistance in promoting the project.
"As we began investigating, one of the things that we found out is that we pay a lot less for electricity," former Spencer superintendent Glen Lohman said in April 2002. "We found out that the payback for us wasn't going to be as great a savings as it was for some of the other school districts that were doing it."
In a November 2001 assessment, Thomas Wind, a consulting engineer with Wind Utility Consulting in Jefferson, suggested detailing the economic feasibility of installing a large utility-scale wind turbine to provide wind-generated power for Spencer High School, the district's largest user of electricity. He wrote that based on his preliminary analysis, the economics did not look favorable for the installation of such a wind turbine. However, Wind did encourage the district, if it was interested in pursuing the installation of a wind turbine, to conduct a more comprehensive study to verify the payback and potential long-term savings.
Wind energy and the potential payback time associated with it locally will be the topic, meanwhile, of a Friday meeting between SMU, Spencer school representatives and Paul Rekow, a wind power enthusiast who resides in rural Spencer. According to Ebeling, Rekow is concerned about the amount of kilowatt hours the district uses, and is putting together some figures related to examples around Iowa that have implemented wind turbines into their energy equation.
"Part of the district's cost is the amount of kilowatt hours we use. But, we also have a demand charge that the school gets (charged)," Ebeling explained to board members Monday night. " ... Even though we're not using the energy, that's a big portion of our bill -- a really large portion of our energy bill. (Paul Rekow is) concerned that it's hard to show the payback on the wind over a number of years because we still would be paying that demand peak charge. So, it just comes down to what SMU will do and how it will work with the school."
The creation of a "high quality, free preschool for all students" ranked second on the board's list of items scheduled to be presented to SMU board members for consideration during their Dec. 7 meeting. With the goal of such an educational endeavor being tied to Iowa's Quality Preschool Program Standards, board members see this possibility benefiting the district's coffers, as well as its students' literacy and achievement abilities.
The broad-based "technology" wish placed third on their potential list could be tied to the "one-on-one laptop computer initiative at the high school and other technology improvements" brainstormed by school board members over the past three months. As board members questioned the district's ability to sustain the cost for something in this area over the long term, they agreed that this proposal, if approved by SMU board members, would be like the others in that it would be fleshed out more fully with staff and focus groups.