Promoting Jobs Act, White House Green Chief Tours Bayless

On tour promoting parts of President Obama’s American Jobs Act, Nancy Sutley, Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality and the president’s chief environmental adviser, stopped by Monday to check out the school’s nationally certified energy efficiency.

“I’m here to talk about investing in infrastructure and creating jobs,” Sutley said. “We are hopeful that Congress will act on the school renovation portion of the American Jobs Act. It would put people back to work right away and also help districts like this.”

Using funds from its 2008 bond issue, Bayless improved the high school’s lighting and HVAC systems. The new high-efficiency heating and cooling system costs less to operate than the old one and reaches 60 percent more of the school. The new system even improves illumination and air quality in classrooms, Superintendent Maureen Clancy-May said.

After completing these renovations, the school received an ENERGY STAR certification from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy.

“It’s good to be able to showcase that you can save money and create a better learning environment, you can reinvest the money you save on energy into the classrooms,” Sutley said. “We also know that there are lots of common sense, cost-effective things that you can do in schools across the country, and we are excited to see the creativity that comes from districts.”

Sutley toured the high school, hearing about the upgrades from Clancy-May, Principal Patrick McEvoy and the district’s architects. She also stopped in on the school’s floor-laying program and its media production class, where students were putting together a PSA against texting while driving. Afterward, she answered questions for a small group of Bayless High School students.

According to a White House press release, Obama’s American Jobs Act would provide Missouri more than $420 million to create 5,500 jobs modernizing the public schools. The money would go toward a range of emergency repairs and renovation projects, including energy efficiency upgrades, asbestos abatement and removal and projects to build new science and computer labs and Internet-ready classrooms.

County Executive Charlie Dooley joined Sutley on the tour and spoke about the .