Cut the blue ribbon on the newly renovated green school.

North Elementary School, which is part of the East Liverpool School District, is WTOV9's Going Green School of the Month

“The first day of school is awesome. They came in with smiles on their faces. The kids made comments like, ‘This is awesome. What a great building; I feel like I’m at the mall,’” said Andy Trotter, principal of North Elementary School.

Trenton, a student in kindergarten, was excited about the gym.

“The gym, what’s so special about the gym?" a reporter asked. "It’s so big!" Trenton said. "What are you going to do in the gym? Play basketball?" the reporter asked. "No!" said Trenton. "Lift weights?" the reporter asked. "Yes,” said Trenton.

NEWS9 decided to check out the boiler room with project manager Rick Sias. He explained that electric heat is a thing of the past in this new school.

“The system is a high-tech, gas-powered, high-efficiency boiler, which is pushing hot water into every room. Then each room has its own independent air system that will change the air in the building six time an hour,” said Sias.

“No more turning on or off light switches for the lights; they turn on automatically thanks to the motions sensors installed in each classroom. These sensors also save energy. When no motion is detected, the lights turn off after 10 minutes,” Sias continued.

During the renovation process, all of the windows were replaced with a thermal pane, dual-pane glass, which will reduce radiation heating for those warmer school days.

Another way the school reduces radiational heating is with integral blinds in each window.

“The blinds can’t be raised so they will constantly filter the light, but they can be opened for more light to come into the building,” said Sias.

Having natural light is a must for delivering a good education to the children.

On average, green schools like this one save $100,000 a year -- enough to hire two new teachers, buy 200 new computers and purchase 5,000 textbooks.

-NEWS9 Jeff Oechslein and Matthew Tuszynski