By David Copeland
Staff Writer
It’s no secret: our school district is losing money. One of the major costs in our district’s budget is Mira Costa’s utility bill which racks up to $185,000 annually. Because of this exorbitant sum of money, the district is trying to save money by cutting back on energy costs at Costa. This is a very wise way to conserve money that would otherwise be wasted. MBUSD has finally opened its eyes and is trying to function within its means. These new changes are a great first step.
One of the newer aspects of this energy-saving plan is the dark campus policy. Between the hours of 12am and 5am, most of the lights in and around Mira Costa will be shut off. It is estimated that this new policy will save the district $15,000. One of the possible negative outcomes of this new plan is an increase in illegal trespassing and vandalism.
The dark campus policy makes sense on a lot of levels. People turn off their house lights during the evening, why not gain financial security by doing that with their schools as well? If the lights are not being used, they should be turned off.
Another energy-saving tactic is the automatic shut-down of any computers that have not been used for a period of time. This is more controversial because some teachers find this process inconvenient and annoying. These new energy saving plans are a very smart way of saving money; however, if they get in the way of class time that should be used for learning instead of trouble-shooting, alterations need to be made.
As a whole, the new energy-saving policies are very successful and smart, but there need to be certain changes made so that the education of the students is not at risk.
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