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Show Utah teacher saving money by war on waste, vandals Petersen also has the idea that huge sums can be saved by putting a stop to vandalism in the schools. During the 1979-80 school year, Granite School District paid $76,483 for damage to schools caused by vandals. van-dals. At Truman Elementary, Elemen-tary, the cost of van dalism in the 1978-79 school was $121. During 1979-80, when the "Kid Power" project went into effect, the vandalism tab dropped to $22.30. How did it happen? "Pride," said petersen. "We told the kids that waste and vandalism cost money, and that their parents pay that money. They listened." A Utah teacher is trying to "export" an idea he has for saving hundred of thousands of dollars. He is Clay Petersen, a teacher at Harry S. Truman Elementary ' School in the Granite District, and according to Dr. Daryl J. McCarty, executive secretary, Utah Education Association, he started a two-pronged war on waste that is aimed at paper waste and school vandalism. He started the program, but students made it work. The school calls this program "Kid Power." The object of the effort to cut paper waste is to have each student cut paper use by one sheet a day. They do it by using half -sheets for short assignments. If they use a whole sheet of paper for a task, they save the used sheet for another assignment that will be written on the clean side. By cutting paper use by one sheet a day, Truman Elementary students can save 134,100 sheets a year. That's a saving of $402 to the school district and taxpayers, Petersen said. If all students in the state cut back paper use by a sheet a day, 59,863,500 sheets and $179,591 could be saved. Kids at Truman School adopted this motto: "If one sheet will do, don't use two.' |