The Hope School District held a “Hit the Switch” celebration last week at Monte Vista Elementary to commemorate the installation of a combined 234 kilowatts of solar panels on all three of the district’s schools, a feat accomplished through the passage of Bond Measure L, which raised $8 million. In the two months that the panels have been installed, Hope Elementary has not needed to pay an electric bill, and the three elementary schools have saved a total of about $5,000. Supervisor Dan Cooperman estimated that between rebates and energy savings, the district will save about $700,000 this year.
