GISD discusses LED light conversion, Ballet Folklorico

At their Monday, June 9 meeting, Gonzales ISD board members approved a districtwide LED lighting conversion program that is expected to save more than $142,000 in energy and maintenance costs each year.

The board also heard a report on what administration has planned for the highly successful Ballet Folklorico program in the 2025-26 school year.

LED lighting

Casey Sledge of Sledge Engineering/ESC 13 told board members one of the scopes of work for maintenance projects under the 2023 bond program is to convert all district campuses from flourescent and incandescent to LED lighting, which would require the conversion of more than 6,000 light fixtures and the installation of more than 250 timer switches.

“There's no timeline for it, but we wanted to give you an opportunity to pull this off this summer,” Sledge said. “Energy conservation, of course, is really the name of the game for this one. What's really unique about this proposal is, unlike just about every other award we ask you for, this one will pay you back.”

Sledge said the district received a proposal from Aquila Environmental for $586,118.90 under the TIPS Purchasing Cooperative. He said the district could save as much as $142,215 per year.

“The calculations for the buyback, or the payback, on this — you will make your money back in just over four years. And so by year five, you will have already paid for it,” Sledge said. “It means, if you don't do this work, you're going to spend this money in five years anyway, because of the extra cost for electricity, for fluorescence, in essence, and the maintenance team's time to go out there and replace bulbs.”

Sledge said he asked Weaver & Jacobs, the construction manager at risk for the bond program, if they could perform the work themselves and while they could, it would cost the district between $750,000 to $800,000, meaning the district would see additional savings by using Aquila.

“I think that speaks to Aquila’s ability to do things. They have labor crews that are focused and come in en masse,” Sledge said. “They just do this and get out and they do it at night. In fact, usually they do big box stores. They don't do other electrical work. All they do is LED replacements.

“And probably the bigger reason for the good pricing, from what we learned from Aquila, is their ability to purchase direct from manufacturers. What we've learned is apparently LEDs are made in all the same place, no matter where you buy from or what brand is on it. If they can buy direct, I think that cuts their cost a lot. We've seen them do them in several districts, and been impressed with them. It's a good long term move for the district.”

Board member Josie Smith-Wright questioned why the proposal brought to the board was from Aquila, stating she would have liked to have seen who else could have done the work. Sledge said while any electrician might be qualified to do the replacement work, the reputation Aquila had in performing similar work in Lago Vista, Nixon-Smiley and other districts stood out to them and because the pricing was through the cooperative that “I'm pretty confident we won't get close to this price from others.”

Smith-Wright voted against the proposal but all six other board members voted in favor of it.

Ballet Folklorico

Brandi Bell presented a report about the 2024 inaugural Ballet Folklorico artistic director in residency program by Teatro De Artes Juan Seguin and outlined what was being proposed for 2025. She spoke about the performance student gave prior to a football game last fall.

“It was quite a celebration in our community. I cannot tell you how many enthusiastic parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles and so many people that turned out and the children that supported each other throughout this event,” Bell said.

In the 2024-25 school year, there were 13 pre-K students, 22 second graders and 38 fourth graders taking part for a total of 73 students and Bell said they expect the program to grow even more in 2025-26.

“I have parents that are texting, saying, ‘When is this coming? Are we doing it again?’” Bell said. “So it's an honor to be able to provide this service to our community and our students.”

The residency by Dr. De La Rosa from Teatro De Artes Juan Seguin calls for 96 hours of instruction and performance with an additional performance this year at Loteria night. The cost to the district is the same as last year minus the cost of costumes as the district purchased 53 blouses and skirts to outfit students in 2024-25.

Bell said this year’s pre-K, second and fourth graders will participate in the program, so students who took part last year will not get another chance until 2026-27. Fourth graders who participated last year won’t have another chance, but could get involved in the mariachi band program that is growing at the high school.

She also noted that UIL is exploring the possibility of making Ballet Folklorico a sanctioned event, much like mariachi band is now. If that is done, it could mean future expansion of the program if the interest is there for it.