McKinney ISD board adopts middle school's energy mission into district policy

You can change your energy-saving habits, you can change your school's, but you can't change an entire school district's - right?

Wrong. Evans Middle School's "Green Your School" team this week broadened their role when the McKinney ISD school board adopted their energy-saving methods into district policy.

Each MISD campus is now encouraged to develop its own energy use reduction goals, discuss with its custodial staff how to cut down after-hours energy waste, and implement the Evans-inspired Half-Watt Wednesdays and Watt-Watchers programs, among other changes.

Campuses will directly see the success of their programs in yearly energy use reports they'll receive every September from MISD's energy manager.

"Most campuses used to have [energy efficient programs] years and years ago," said Kimberly Church, Evans MS student council advisor. "But there are just so many good opportunities that you really had to have a sponsor for it, and students who took control. They campuses will now be re-energized."

McKinney ISD Unplugged, an energy-conscious campaign, will kickoff in April to create awareness of the district's newly tweaked energy ideals and to urge students' and staff's ownership of energy-saving habits.

"This is where the ripple effect takes place," Church said. "It starts at the school, the kids take it home, the parents adopt the habits and take them into their workplace, and the ripple effect continues."

The ripples began like an Evans wave in recent weeks, after DoSomething.org, an organization devoted to pushing America's youth into action, selected Evans as the top energy saver out of 7,000 schools in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico.

Evans implemented "Half-Watt Wednesdays," during which classrooms use just half their lights one day a week, and Watt-Watchers, a patrolling initiative that reminds teachers to turn out their lights when they're not there. Student "watchers" post a notice on their door if they don't.

Through the programs, the Evans team earned a $10,000 prize when it was selected in January as one of 16 teams nationwide for the first-level Lexus Eco Challenge grant. The team is now competing for the $30,000 grand prize, which - now with district approval - it will use to purchase Pavegen Energy Tiles.

The tiles would use students' and teachers' footsteps and kinetic energy to power low-wattage hallway lights, and would make Evans the first school in North America to use them, according to Pavegen. McKinney ISD has a contract with TXU Energy that forbids schools from creating their own energy, but, as the team found out this week, the tiles would be permitted because they're scientific, Church said.

After unveiling its energy mission to MISD's energy manager, the Evans team brought it in front of the school board Tuesday night, each student telling a different part. They told board trustees about their new website energywattchers.com and their soon-to-be launched free smart phone application with similar prompts: a Green Gadgets tab that shows energy-saving items available for purchase; worksheets that teach about energy saving to all, young and old; Eco Hot Spots that show local energy-efficient businesses; and an Energy Calculator that converts energy waste to real-life examples.

"They asked a lot of questions about it and seemed pretty interested," team member Johnny Millar said of the trustees.

Ethan Maliskas, fellow team member, explained to the board how the mission isn't restrained to extracurricular programs. Teachers in every classroom can tie it to their curriculum.

"Pavegen tiles already come with a science lesson, so teachers could use that," he said later this week. "English teachers could have students' future selves write a letter talking about what the world's like without using carbon for energy. It can be used in every subject."

Trustees appreciated the team's desire to expand its mission beyond the classroom to the rest of MISD and the community, Church said. They recognized the importance of students owning their ideas and leading their peers - in and out of school - toward a more sustainable future.

"Whatever each campus decides for its goals, however they want to run it, it has to be student-led," said Reed Waterman, another team member. "I don't think people realize the impact they can have."

Lexus Eco Challenge initiators clearly realize it, particularly in students. The Evans team won the area tier of the top-level challenge, and has to submit its programs by March 1 for a shot at the $30,000 grand prize.

Sparking change to an entire school district's energy mandates should help their case.

"We're just excited to see the final products of all the stuff we've done," Waterman said. "When we went into school, we didn't go in thinking we'd be adopting new polices for the district."

For more information on Evans' initiatives, visit www.energywattchers.com. For alerts on when the app is launched, "like" the McKinney Watt Watchers Facebook page.

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