The following letter is an example of one that can be placed in mailboxes of your staff, posted in a workroom, or read at a faculty meeting. Please modify to fit your school’s procedures. The purpose is to inform all members of your school about the Watt Watchers of Texas program and the procedures for your school. Remember that to have a successful program, you need the support of your faculty and administration.

Dear Faculty and Staff,

Watt Watchers of Texas will be coming soon to a classroom near you! Student patrol groups will be auditing the school for energy waste in the form of building lights. If students find lights on in empty rooms they will be leaving “tickets.” They will leave thank you notes where their recorded data shows consistent energy efficiency (you have turned off your lights when you leave your classroom). The focus of the program is on saving energy costs in the school and increasing student awareness of energy issues. In a typical Texas school, lighting alone can account for 1/3 of the entire utility bill! Watt Watchers of Texas has assisted hundreds of schools in reducing this cost. Watt Watcher energy patrols have saved participating schools around the nation from hundreds to thousands of dollars in energy costs each year.

The Watt Watchers of Texas program is a proven method of teaching energy efficient habits while reducing school electric bills. Our energy future depends on decisions students will make about energy use; Watt Watchers gives them the opportunity to make a difference now by “doing something” for their school. These same students often show increased self-esteem, leadership and responsibility back in their classrooms.

The students will be patrolling during first lunch and after recess. They will not enter your classroom, or disturb classes already in session. The official Watt Watchers for that day will be wearing name badges or lanyards to identify them as such. They will leave their tickets on your door as a reminder to you to turn off your lights when you leave your room. Please return these to my box to be reused. Each month our energy use will be graphed outside room 104. Hopefully, this will show that our energy use is going down. The Watt Watcher students will give an end of the year presentation to the School Board and awards to the classrooms that showed consistent energy efficiency. There will also be an award for the classroom that showed the most improvement.

Thank you for your cooperation,

Watt Watcher Sponsor