Watershed Public Charter School is one of 90 schools nationwide to receive a $1.27 million Renew America’s Schools grant to bring clean energy to Baltimore County students.
Deputy Secretary of Energy David Turk visited the school on Wednesday to see his department’s investment in action. He also announced a second pool of $180 million available for new Renew America’s Schools grants, to help even more schools offset energy costs.
“This is going to help schools all across our country,” Turk said. “No more wasted energy, no more wasted dollars going forward. We want to make classrooms healthier, learning easier.”
Turk said that U.S. public schools spend a total of $8 billion each year on energy.
“That's an awful lot of money. In fact, that's more money than their annual budgets for computers and books,” he said.
The Renew America’s Schools grants pay for “common sense things” like HVAC systems and lighting, Turk added.
“Kids should have an environment where they can focus on learning, focus on education,” he said. “They don't have to worry about being too cold or too hot in their rooms. We need to make sure that we've got air quality, indoor air quality and external air quality.”
At Watershed, the grant funding will help replace the boiler system with an HVAC one, install energy-efficient doors, and put solar panels on school grounds.
“Our community is ready to be in a school building which matches the mission and vision of Watershed, a building which mirrors the environmental activism that is needed to protect our future on this planet,” said Principal Lori Widney. “Our students deserve to have a building which matches their activism, their learning, their projects.”
Watershed is currently expanding to serve sixth grade students — and in the next two years, will add seventh and eighth grade, too. The school just signed a five-year renewal contract to keep operating in Baltimore County.
Superintendent Myriam Rogers said Turk should expect more applications from Baltimore County for the next round of grants. Last year, over a thousand schools applied nationwide.
“Anytime there's an opportunity for us to apply to make our schools better places for our students, we are ready to do that,” Rogers said.
