Pictured from left to right: Tom Larson (RPS Energy Manager), Dr. Mike Shibler (Superintendent), Laura Featherston (Board President), Mike Bitar (Energy Education Regional President).
Faculty and staff at Rockford Public Schools have consistently paved the energy conservation pathway for other organizations while achieving significant savings with energy-efficient behavior — and now those good habits are earning the organization national recognition.
Rockford Public Schools has achieved a 25 percent energy cost savings totaling $3,600,684 in a 108 month program since forming a strategic alliance with Energy Education. The national energy conservation company presented the district with its Chairman’s Sustainability Award at the RPS Board of Education meeting on October 8, 2012. The award lauds the organization’s success in implementing the company’s Transformational Energy Management® process — a comprehensive organizational behavior-based approach to energy conservation at all levels of the organization.
“Sustaining this level of energy conservation is a significant achievement. Through the years, Rockford Public Schools has done an excellent job of implementing Energy Education’s transformational program. The Superintendent and Board, along with other administration, faculty and staff members are to be commended for clearly fulfilling their commitment to being good stewards of the taxpayers’ money and the environment,” said Dr. Spears, Chairman and Founder of Energy Education.
“Strong support from Superintendent Shibler and the board have created a system-wide culture of conservation and cooperation that will ensure even greater success well into the future,” Dr. Spears said.
“I am extremely pleased to present Rockford Public Schools with our Chairman’s Sustainability Award. The Rockford Public Schools joins a very committed, elite group of organizations across the country working hard to conserve energy so that dollars saved can be reserved for educational needs,” said Dr. Spears.
Dr. Michael Shibler, Superintendent of Schools, said “Every dollar we don’t spend on energy is available to us to add to our instructional programs. The challenge is that saving significant energy dollars requires the consistent execution of hundreds of energy saving actions by hundreds of staff members and educators every minute of every day. Yet every day our people are doing what most people struggle to do for even one day in their own homes and I applaud our staff for their successful efforts.”
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