The Mount Greylock Regional School has had their electric car charges off for five years, mostly due to cost concerns. Now, new chargers are likely to return within the school year.
Much of the student body was curious as to why the car chargers, located in the Mount Greylock parking lot, were turned off in the first place. Dr. McCandless, school district superintendent, said, “Our car chargers on Mount Greylock’s campus do not have any way to charge [money] for the power. We did not think that, as a publicly funded taxpayer supported organization, we were in a position to give away something that probably cost $25 to $50 every time somebody does a charge or a full charge. So rather than be in that position to be giving that away to some people, not giving it to the other people, we had them shut off until we could find a better solution.”
In most instances, local members of the community were not the ones using the chargers. It was really only, “a few vehicles from New York State that were parking here for weekends. They would pull in on Friday nights, they would charge overnight, and then they would pull out on Sunday,” Dr. McCandless said.
Both students and administrators have voiced their support for the school providing electric car chargers.
“We know it’s the right thing to do to have electric car chargers available for our own students and staff and the families that we serve here who would make good use of it, but also for the larger community and just being responsible neighbors,” Joe Bergeron, Business Administrator for the Mount Greylock Regional School District said.
The Mount Greylock Student Council has been pushing for the school to turn the chargers back on for the past three years. “After a lengthy process in conjunction with the administration and the community,” Student Council Vice President Caleb Low said, the district has found “the safest, most cost-efficient and environmentally optimistic way to implement electric car chargers”
Dr. McCandless added, “It’s been a real priority of the student council for Mount Greylock since the building was built. It’s been a pretty consistent push from the student council that that is a real priority for our students. And so because it’s such a priority for the students, it’s also a huge priority for us.”
Dr. McCandless explained that, “When they [electric car chargers] were turned off, the school district also immediately applied for state and federal funding to put in real networked good vehicle chargers, not the ones that just come free with a building nowadays.”
Although it has now been five years,“We’re finally at the head of the queue to get ours. Lanesborough Elementary School received its five chargers, each with two ports for a total of 10 charging spots, this summer. Now Greylock and Williamstown Elementary are supposed to receive theirs during this year as well,” Dr. McCandless said.
It has been a lengthy process and, “a long slog to get through all the state and federal funding applications and the process to have the funding allocated by the state so that it can be used by the local utility company” Bergeron said.
“We’re hopeful that everything will be done and will be passed this school year.”
