Tuesday, June 13, 2023–7:44 p.m.

-David Crowder, WRGA News-

The Floyd County School System is looking to save on energy costs – funds that could then be used elsewhere.

Superintendent Glenn White told the school board Monday that a company recently came in and found over a million dollars in savings. However, for their services, they wanted half a million dollars, which White said he was opposed to. Instead, he recommended doing an in-house energy management program. The school system would then hire someone to oversee the program at a salary of $55,000 to $65,000, plus benefits.

“They would basically be paid from the savings we make,” White told the board.

Savings could come from simply making sure the lights are turned off in the gyms and auditoriums when they’re not in use and setting thermostats at a specific number, like 72 degrees, across all Floyd County School buildings. However, sioqHome on the board believes a temperature range might be better.

Chip Hood believes a hard number would be controversial.

“The temperature can fluctuate and so the range thing may be better,” Hood said. “I just hate for our employees to be sweating.”

Also Monday, the superintendent told the school board to keep in mind that federal COVID-19 funds are set to expire next year. The money has been used to fund interventionists to assist at-risk students and address a loss of instructional time during the pandemic.

According to White, there is no doubt that interventionists have made a difference.

We’re not where I want to be but we are making gains,” he said. “As far as how we measure progress in our school system, we are at levels that we have never been before – disregard COVID. I think this next year, we will be above that. We will be knocking on the door of the top ten percent in the State of Georgia, academically.”

However, White fears keeping the interventionists after the federal funds are lost will mean a reduction in force within two years. However, a million dollars in energy cost savings could help.

“I’m not committing to that,” he said. “I’m using that as an example as to why everyone needs to participate in us saving money because it can then be used for things that we know work.”