B U F F A L O N E W S
Grand Island schools will see some subtle changes this school year that the district hopes will create noticeable savings.
Superintendent Robert Christmann said at a meeting Monday (Sept. 8) that a number of cost-cutting measures, culled from meetings and exchanges with school department heads, will take effect this fall.
Among the most significant is a two-degree drop in the standard temperature — to 68 degrees — that Christmann said could save the district $15,000 in yearly heating costs.
Among other automated changes are a standard shutdown time for district computers and a consolidation of data servers, expected to save about $12,000. Lights both inside and out of the school will be kept off for more hours per day, netting an expected $22,000, though Christmann said the safest and most convenient schedules had yet to be worked out.
Finally, the district will seek to convert more of its paper mailings to e-mail and encourage its drivers to keep their buses idle for only five minutes at a time, when heating isn’t a consideration. The district last month eliminated one bus each from the two late runs at its middle and high schools, as the buses were often less than a quarter full.