CHARLOTTESVILLE — Eastern Hancock schools are an unlikely candidate to lead they way on environmental initiatives. But as officials explore new ways to cut costs, the statewide school funding shortfall is having a surprisingly positive side effect. 

    “The budget impact to schools has forced a dramatic change in the way we do business,” said Debbie Spangler, EH administrative assistant. “As a result of these changes, Eastern Hancock is going green.” 
 
   Since the beginning of the year, EH schools have taken drastic steps to cut costs. Aside from the most painful choices – laying off teachers – officials have limited access to facilities, turned off lights, burned through less paper and become a community drop point for recyclables to offset the cost of waste removal. 

    A large recycling bin on the north side of the campus is the most visible evidence of the district’s earth-friendly attitude toward budget cuts. 

    Eastern Hancock made a deal with local waste removal company CGS Services that encourages good stewardship of the drop-off location while reducing the cost of trash pickup. 

    The more clean paper products — from pizza boxes and printouts to old newspapers and junk mail — dropped in the bin by residents, the more money the district will save on waste removal. 

    The district’s first move when Gov. Mitch Daniels announced that all schools would be ordered to cut 3 percent from their budgets in December was to reduce utility expenses. 
 
   Short of turning to renewable power sources like wind and solar energy, as many green buildings do, EH has taken steps to conserve electricity by keeping lights turned off and cutting the work week over the summer down to four days instead of five. 

    “A lot of schools have become 24-hour facilities,” said Spangler, noting that funding shortfalls are forcing many districts besides Eastern to restrict access. 

    Keeping the high school swimming pool open year round has also become a luxury the district can’t afford. 

    When Spangler contacted Woody Holm with Stair & Associates to inquire about closing it for six months out of the year, the pool maintenance company didn’t have an immediate answer. As it turns out, Spangler said, no school had ever asked the company. 

    “I think it’s becoming a model for other schools,” she said. 

    By taking advantage of open- source computer software provided to school districts at no cost by Google, the school corporation hopes to save on two fronts. 

    First, teachers will be able to eliminate ream after ream of paper waste by facilitating classroom exercises on computers. The district will also owe software companies like Microsoft mush less money in licensing fees. 

    These expenses, Superintendent Randy Harris said, add up quickly. 

    The district paid $10,500 for trash pickup last year. The price tag for printer paper totaled $13,000 while printer ink ran EH $18,000. The high school paid between $800 and $1,000 for maintenance on the pool. 

    By closing the pool for six months out of the year, the district expects to save $20,000 to $26,000. That includes a dramatically reduced amount of chemicals required to treat the pool throughout the year. 

    In urban areas, it’s not uncommon for building designs to incorporate recycled cement, solar panels and green roofs. But such design strategies are rarer in rural communities where there’s room to grow. 

    Of course, the movement for EH officials is not first and foremost about conservation or protecting the environment. 

    “I wish I could tell you that’s what I was thinking when we started. It wasn’t,” Harris said. “We’ve been looking for every way we can to save money in the district. One of the accidental byproducts of that is we began to get a little more green as a campus.” 

    But the end result has officials considering environmental impact along with the bottom line. 

    “The concept of ‘going green’ and ‘green buildings’ is something we all must address from the idea of environmental impact,” Spangler said. 

    Knowing all too well the impact continued budget problems might have, EH teachers and staff are doing what they can. 

    “There’s an adjustment period with any change, but I think they’ve stepped up,” Harris said. 

    Officials will continue to reexamine assumptions about operating the school. But the ‘green’ fix only goes so far when it comes to the budget crisis. 

    “Unfortunately, with all the efforts we’ve made to save money and become more green, we still cannot save everybody’s job,” Harris said.
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