By Per Peterson
Members of the District 2904 School Board took a short but potentially important field trip at its most recent meeting.
They walked from their meeting area to a nearby classroom where a couple of the current light fixtures had been replaced by options for new energy-efficient LED lighting assemblies.
“This is something that is worthy of conversation and something we need to talk more about,” TAHS Superintendent Chad Anderson told the board. “Just look in this room — how many lights we have, ballasts, and lights.”
The lighting issue is just one part of the school’s budget planning for next year.
Anderson told the Headlight Herald on Thursday via email that the school will experiment with two rooms this spring. LED panels will go in one English classroom, and one science classroom will be re-lamped with new LED bulbs. The panels have a 10-year warranty and labor allowance, he said. The bulbs have a five-year warranty.
Anderson said the school will re-lamp and rewire the science room using the same fixture but will install LED bulbs. He said with 42 fixtures the end result could be a $262 savings per classroom, essentially cutting in half the cost to run lights in the science room.
“After a couple months installed we can make a better decision based upon input from teachers and students,” he said. “The buildings and grounds committee are interested installing lights in a couple rooms to see how they work and look and how they affect students’ reading.”
For more on this article, see this week’s Headlight-Herald.