Solar project coming along at Frankton-Lapel Schools

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LAPEL — Frankton- Lapel Community School Corp. leaders heard an update on their multi-million-dollar solar energy project at Lapel schools and selected new board leaders for 2018.

Those items and accepting gifts from the community were all part of a recent school board meeting.

Craig Martin from Johnson Melloh gave an update to the board on the solar projects at Lapel High School and Lapel Middle/Lapel Elementary schools.

The solar project is a part of the district’s new cost-saving energy conservation plan.

The plan initially calls for two solar arrays — one at Lapel High School and one at Lapel Middle and Lapel Elementary schools.

The district also is installing LED lighting, assistant superintendent Sterling Boles said.

It’s all part of a master plan to conserve energy as well as to consistently budget electricity bills for the next 20 years.

The solar fields are net-metered, which means the district will receive credit for each kilowatt-hour of electrical energy it puts back on the electrical grid at the same rate Duke Energy charges the district, Boles said.

The $4.5-million project is projected to save the district an estimated $7.5 million in energy consumption during the next several decades, district leaders said.

The solar field at the high school is close to completion and will be enabled to start producing energy any day now.

The field at Lapel Middle and Lapel Elementary is still under construction and should be completed in the next few months.

The installation of 9,000 new LED lights districtwide — projected to save the corporation about $123,000 in energy costs the first year — is about two-thirds complete and should be finished in March, Boles said.

The project will allow the district to be good stewards of the environment as well as create a fixed cost for budget planning purposes, Boles said.

“We believe that it’s important to set a good example for our students,” Boles said.

In addition, there is an educational benefit that will allow students to track the solar field’s production through kiosks that will be placed in Lapel schools.

On the business front, the board approved several gifts to the district, including a donation of $6,700 from the Community Hospital Foundation/Community Chefs program to the corporation. Lapel Elementary School accepted $3,000 from the school’s parent-teacher group for the transportation fund. Lapel Middle School was gifted $800 from the Optimist Club of Lapel toward installation of basketball backboards. Lapel High School received $990 from the South Madison Community Foundation for the robotics club.

In other business, the board:

• Elected Tami Davis board president, Mike Rusche vice president, and Randy Cunningham secretary for the 2018 school year. Mike Lacey was retained as the corporation attorney, and Lynn Hall will remain board treasurer.

• Approved the salary for members for 2018 at $2,000 per year with a per diem of $112 per regularly scheduled board meeting.

• Made committee assignments for board members: Instruction-Curriculum-AIDS Advisory Committee — Joanne Amick and Davis; Facilities Committee — Alan Bays, Melissa Duncan and Rusche; Finance and Negotiations Committee — Bays, Davis and Brian Gill; High Abilities Committee — Amick, Cunningham and Gill; Student Support Committee — Amick, Bays and Rusche; Technology Committee — Davis, Duncan and Gill; Public Relations & Community Involvement Committee — Amick, Cunningham and Rusche; and Ebbertt Education Center Executive Council — Amick.

• Designated Bobby Fields, superintendent, and Debbie Johnson, special education director, with the authority to sign Indiana Department of Education agreements for alternative and private residential school placements.

• Approved participation in the Title I program for 2018-19.

• Approved a request from Anderson University to use a Frankton-Lapel bus and bus driver for a campus activity event this month.