By Steve Frey
Happy Groundhog Day! Yes, it is once again that magical day where people put faith in a rodent to tell them how quickly they should expect spring to arrive.
Here’s a helpful hint: Don’t believe the groundhog—trust your calendar. Well, that’s easy to say, but with climate change, we may experience spring-like temperatures in February and go back to winter in April like last year, so even the calendar is iffy.
Oh, well, there is always the “Groundhog Day” movie to enjoy. It is usually on some channel or another today. As you may recall, Phil Connors (Bill Murray) experiences Groundhog Day over and over until he dedicates himself to selfless service to others.
Do you ever have those Groundhog Day moments? If you are a football fan and you don’t care for the New England Patriots, you probably feel that way about the Super Bowl. No, you may not wake up to a Sonny and Cher song, but you do watch Tom Brady leading his team onto the field on Super Bowl Sunday—over and over again.
Isn’t this at least the 30th Super Bowl for Brady? He’s like that old Timex watch: He “takes a licking and keeps on ticking.” Who knows, Brady may be playing in the Super Bowl 10 more times before he retires—if he retires.
Then there is Superintendent Rob Graham in Radford. He and the school board have been presenting the same capital improvement plans to the city council for the last couple of years now. They must feel a little like they are in that Groundhog Day movie at times.
Speaking of capital improvements, the school board had an excellent discussion at their last meeting about solar power. The division’s roofs have already been checked out, and they are panel-ready since they’re all relatively new.
If the school system places solar panels on their buildings and starts generating energy, they can begin saving utility money that could be diverted to other needs. Let’s take a hypothetical situation. Say the division spends $300,000 a year on electricity. Remember, this is just an easy round number and not the actual amount. However, if they can put solar panels on all of their buildings, they may generate enough energy to eliminate that $300,000 utility bill.
Now, this doesn’t hurt the city at all. Who provides the funds for that $300,000 bill? The city (taxpayers, actually), of course. Who provides the $300,000 worth of electricity? Why, the city pays Appalachian Power (a subsidiary of American Electric Power) that $300,000 for the energy for the schools. So, if the school system generates that $300,000, it saves the city money that they don’t have to pay Appalachian Power.
Now, the $300,000 is in the budget already, so what should that now be used for by the city and schools? They could use that money for capital improvements, repairs or bonds for a new CTE building, of course. So, let’s review—the city and/or school system check all of the couches for loose change to buy the initial equipment; the school system generates their own power; they save that $300,000, and the city, instead of paying Appalachian Power, uses it to help the schools with renovations or new construction.
Also at the last school board meeting, the board approved McHarg Elementary facility design work by Thompson and Litton to create renovation plans. This solar project could be coming along at just the right time. By the way, Radford City is not the first division to use this solar concept. Graham mentioned at the meeting that two of three Middlesex County schools had eliminated their electricity costs entirely with solar power. Other school divisions are doing the same thing.
There has been much discussion (at least here) about the city transforming Radford’s electric department from merely buying electricity from Appalachian Power completely to generating some of its own using solar. Again, every dollar of energy the city produces is one less dollar that needs to be paid to Appalachian Power and can be used for other projects or needs. In the long run, it would help not just the school system, but the entire city, and over time, more money would stay in the pockets of citizens and businesses by reducing utility bills. Did someone say sustainability?
Now, who knows if Tom Brady will ever loosen his grip on the Super Bowl trophy. That Groundhog Day nightmare may continue until some team can stop him. Are you listening, Rams? Wait, you haven’t forgotten the Saints? Let it go and get on the Rams’ bandwagon, friend!
However, the city council can help end Superintendent Graham and the school board’s recurring experience of another budget year without a firm plan for addressing the division’s needs. The school board and city council meet together on February 11 to discuss the school budget, so it won’t take long to find out.
Perhaps the school board and council could start the meeting singing Sonny and Cher’s “I Got You Babe” together—and end the session, like the beginning of a brand new day, with a joint plan that will provide for the educational needs of families in Radford for years to come.
Hey, Groundhog Days do end sometimes!
Steve Frey is a writer and CEO of Ascendant Educational Services based in Radford.