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Schools In Lead On Saving Energy

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By MARILYN BROWN

mbrown@tampatrib.com

Published: March 27, 2009

TAMPA - When thousands of locations from the Empire State Building to the Great Pyramids of Giza switch their lights off Saturday for Earth Hour 2009, students from more than 60 Hillsborough County schools will have already done that.

The school district held its own version of a "power down" Thursday from 1 to 2 p.m. to save energy and build awareness about climate change.

A Robles Elementary School fifth-grader, Javon Gilbert, 10, came up with the idea of holding the local event about a month ago.

He was working on a class project on renewable energy when he found information on the international Earth Hour project, which started in 2007 in Australia, said Angel Danger, Robles' science resource teacher.

Danger reached out to other schools through district e-mail and by Thursday had heard from more than 60 that planned to participate.

"It went really well," Danger said. "A lot of teachers turned off air conditioning and everything."

There is already talk about getting Tampa or Temple Terrace involved next year, Danger said.

The electricity ban made for a calmer day, Danger and others said.

"It kept voices down a little bit," said Beth Hemmert, principal's secretary at Tampa's Claywell Elementary School. Phones were in use, but no other equipment. Without an intercom, parents arriving to pick up children walked to their class.

Many teachers took students outside to read, Hemmert said.

"The restroom is the trick," she added. "There are no windows in there."

"It was very peaceful" at Palm River Elementary, said Principal Woodland Johnson. "It was nice. Kids seemed to enjoy it, and so did the teachers."

At Tampa's MacFarlane Park Magnet Elementary, the music teacher led a kindergarten music class despite the lack of light inside, said Principal Denyse Riveiro.

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