No stranger to competition
All six Morgan County schools compete against one another each year in a district energy-savings competition, with the winner receiving extra money to spend on the school.
“I’ve had years where every school reduced their usage but it just varies year to year on who actually won,” Sparkman said. “I’ve had a couple of years where the school that won surprised me. I had an older building that actually performed better with the amount of usage decreased than I did a building that was seven to eight years old.”
KSBA presented awards to three Morgan County schools in early May for the 2018 Kentucky Battle of the School Building competition. East Valley Elementary won first place, Morgan County Middle won fourth place and Morgan Central Elementary won fifth place. Pictured are, from left, Martha Casher, energy services coordinator for KSBA’s School Energy Managers Project; Michelle Vance, school board member; Darren Sparkman, facilities director; Amanda Lee, East Valley principal; Thomas Potter, superintendent; Marshall Jenkins, school board chairman; Terry Whitt, Morgan County Middle principal; Ashley Pelfrey, Morgan Central Elementary principal; and Esther Cain, school board member.
Lee said the school’s custodians are driven to win the district competition so they can purchase needed items. “Lots of times they will purchase equipment that will be more energy savings for them. It’s a double bonus for us,” Lee said.
Energy saved is money earned
Potter, who was principal at East Valley from 2001 to 2012, said the district’s commitment to energy savings is simple: instead of sending more money to the utility companies, the district can put the money into the classrooms.
“Historically, we’ve had those reductions from everything from our SEEK allocation to our federal dollars that’s coming into our districts, so every dollar matters, every dollar counts,” Potter said. “That’s big for me and our board. (The board’s) planning and foresight and focus on reducing our energy costs has obviously paid huge dividends not only to our district but the local community and taxpayers in this community.”
Morgan County school board Chairman Marshall Jenkins said the principals, teachers and students deserve credit. “Without those people in place, you can’t be successful,” he said.
“It’s an all-in effort,” Potter said. “It’s a concerted effort across the district.”
East Valley students take on role of classroom "electricians"