Xernalia Marshall, Lead Special Education Teacher at KIPP Public Charter Schools’ Shaw campus was on her way to school when she heard KIPP DC would be shutting down by the weekend. “It was a huge shock to me because at the time we didn’t know the extent of the situation,” says Xernalia. “I came in the building, went to my classroom & that’s when I got the email from my principal that we would close the next day.” Xernalia & her colleagues worked all-day Thursday & Friday to put together binders of engaging materials for students, as well planning to provide Surface Tablets to any students who needed them & safely distribute healthy breakfast, lunch & snack during the pandemic shutdown. During what would have been school hours, she Zoom chats with her Kindergarteners several times a week but yearns for a time when she is back with them in-person
With these challenging times come some tremendous opportunities in empty school buildings all over DC. School systems across the country report that energy costs are second only to personnel in their annual budgets, and the US Department of Energy reports that 30% of that energy is wasted. “It was almost as if we were preparing for one of the late major snow events we have some Springs in DC,” an administrator at one child development center said, “but we were preparing for a far different type of storm.”
Although school may be out for the year, the DCSEU wants to help make sure that students and teachers will return to comfortable, optimally lit learning environments with the healthiest of indoor air in high-performance school buildings. We are releasing our Summer Shutdown for Energy Savings: Energy Savings Guide for K-12 Schools (and other childcare facilities). Account Manager Cory Chimka & the DCSEU Engineering Team can help you Turn Off, Turn Down, Tune Up & Tear Out to save major energy & major money during this summer break. Download Toolkit here & fill out the form for more help.