To comply to the new mandate, junior Blake Brill and sophomore Dylan Catlett move a refrigerator out of Julia Barnes's classroom. Cub photo/ Chris Gore

In an attempt to cut costs in the township, the MSDLT administration recently released a mandate “requiring the removal of all non-educational, personal appliances from (teachers’) classrooms and offices.” Teachers must, before winter break, remove all personal electronic appliances.

Facing a potential $3.2 million dollar deficit, the township has found many different options to cut costs, including the school board’s recent decision to close Craig Middle School. This new mandate is aimed to supplement the efforts in reducing the deficit.

But instructional technology specialist Jan Weir says that there are other options that will cut costs. “The single biggest thing that we can do is turn off the computers at the end of the day,” she said. “Let’s take  care of the big things first.”

Moreover, Weir said that the manner in which the township is presenting this “edict” is unfavorable. “If you get people to participate in the (decision-making) process, (the mandate) would tend to be much more effective,” she said.

Weir cited a 2008 American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers, Inc. article in making her argument. The article discusses a similar situation to MSDLT’s, but says that the administration chose to leave the employees’ personal appliances out of the matter. “The energy saved would not justify the political capital spent,” according to the article, entitled “13 tips from Energy Star schools.” 

Nevertheless, the administration will be inspecting classrooms in January to ensure that all personal electronic appliances are removed.