Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE – The Federal Aviation Administration has given SAD 1 the green light to install two meteorological [MET] towers to help determine if some of the district’s buildings can be powered with wind energy, making SAD 1 one of the first public school systems in Maine to meet its energy needs with wind power. At last Wednesday night’s board meeting in Mapleton, Superintendent Gehrig Johnson told directors that with FAA approval, the next step is getting necessary local permits.
“The city of Presque Isle is working on creating an ordinance to regulate the installation of MET towers and windmills, but that ordinance is not in place yet,” said Johnson, “so our plan should be grandfathered under current regulations.”
MET towers, which are used to gather wind data necessary for site evaluation and development of wind energy projects, will be positioned behind Mapleton Elementary School and by the ball fields at Presque Isle Middle School and will stay up for one year. Due to the FAA’s flight path restrictions, the tower at PIMS will be shorter than had originally thought.
“Instead of being 268 feet tall, the MET tower at the middle school will be at 149 feet,” said Johnson. “The MET tower height at Mapleton will be 268 feet because there are no similar flight path restrictions.”
MET tower instrumentation data logs wind direction and speed. In addition, the towers can be equipped to record temperature, solar radiation and air pressure, if necessary. The most reliable wind energy assessments depend on wind data recorded continually, over a 1-year period at 40 and 60-meter heights (or greater). The wind data is sampled periodically (every 10 minutes is typical) and stored locally at the tower base using solid state memory devices. MET towers data loggers can be fitted with Web server software and an Internet connection for remote downloading of the meteorological information stored at the site.
Johnson said First Wind, the company behind Mars Hill Wind, the second largest wind power production facility in the state, has tentatively agreed to donate the MET towers, for a savings of approximately $40,000 for the two towers.
“We would be responsible for the cost of the instrumentation and monitoring,” he said, noting the total expense would be about $60,000. “The money we would spend on this is outside of the operational budget consisting of federal grant money already earmarked for this project.”
SAD 1 is a heavy user of electricity and has been exploring alternative energy for the last year. In the course of a year, the district’s electricity bill approaches $400,000.
“If we were to have a favorable feasibility study,” Johnson said, “and have the sustainable winds that we think we have, we estimate that we could recover more than 70 percent of our yearly cost at the middle school and at Mapleton Elementary School for generations to come.”
Directors unanimously authorized Johnson to take the next steps needed to follow the project through.
“We could have the MET towers up within 4-5 weeks from the time that we tell them we’re ready,” said Johnson. “This should be a fast installation and I’m excited about it. We’re ready to make the first leap into this green energy initiative.”
Also at the meeting, Assistant Superintendent Ellen Schneider summarized recent state test results.
Elementary (grades 3-5) and middle school (grades 6-8) students took the Maine Educational Assessment [MEA] tests in March, while high school juniors took the Maine High School Assessment, otherwise known as the SAT test, in May.
Test results show that students met or exceeded the state average in all areas (reading and mathematics). However, a subgroup of students with disabilities at both the middle school and high school struggled with the math component of the testing, and therefore the schools did not make the Adequate Yearly Progress [AYP] list according to the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
“In our case, it means that if one more special education student had gotten one more point on the test, we would have made the list,” said Johnson.
Recognizing that many families move to the district so children with special education needs can utilize SAD 1’s comprehensive services, Johnson said sometimes that has repercussions with regard to testing batteries.
“Since 2004, our overall student population has declined 11 percent, but our special education population has grown by 17 percent,” he said. “With 339 students with disabilities enrolled, we’ve always considered our comprehensive special education program a strength. However, in terms of testing, it presents challenges with an expanding special education population.”
Johnson said the district will continue to strive to meet federal target numbers for all students.
The first year a school does not make AYP it is put on “monitor” status. If it does not make AYP a second year in a row, the school becomes a “Continuous Improvement Priority,” or CIPS school. Each year a school does not make AYP it advances – from CIPS1 to CIPS2, and so on. A CIPS school that makes AYP goes on “hold” and if it makes AYP a second year in a row, it moves off the list.
“The bottom line is that our student body throughout the district continues to excel in national and state testing batteries,” said Johnson. “Our priority now is to work closely with our special education department to strive to meet federal guidelines of 10 percent annual growth for our children with special needs.”
In other meeting news, directors voted – beginning next month – to meet at 5 p.m. rather than 7 p.m. Citing family obligations and the inevitable winter weather, directors thought it best to meet earlier in the day which would allow everyone to meet evening commitments throughout the school district and community and also give people more daylight hours to enjoy during the summer months.
The next regular school board meeting will be held at 5 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 12 at Zippel Elementary School.Project.
