Fort Atkinson School District first began taking steps towards sustainable building practices in 2006 when they knew they had to replace four heating systems in their schools. Geothermal heat was proposed and Dennis Kuchenmeister, the Director of Buildings and Grounds, coordinated the design and construction of the geothermal systems. Kuchenmeister soon realized that the payback for efficient systems would only benefit the district and that there were generous incentives available for renewable energies. Three of the elementary schools and the middle school replaced inefficient and outdated boilers for geothermal systems. This massive upgrade utilizes renewable and sustainable energy to heat and air condition the schools. It was paid for through a school referendum.

In April of 2006, citizens of Fort Atkinson approved a referendum question to provide for the installment of new Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems in four of its six district buildings. The first question on the April 2006 referendum asked for approval of new HVAC systems for the four aging buildings at a cost of $9,650,000 dollars. The second question asked citizens permission to install a geothermal HVAC system that would cost an extra $1,040,000 dollars. The citizens approved both questions thus the total Geothermal HVAC project was $10,690,000 dollars. In the 2007-2008 the Geothermal HVAC installment was completed at Purdy, Rockwell, and Barrie schools. The following school year in 2008-2009 installation was completed at our 180,000 square foot middle school.  In terms of energy savings, the district has measured kilowatt hours saved in the four buildings  since the complete installation of the geothermal systems in comparison to 2006-2007 with traditional heating and ventilating. In addition to heating and ventilating, the district now COOLS their buildings. Thus the savings in kilowatt hours and dollars saved of approximately $69,000 in 2010 reflects the air conditioning not previously included which has enhanced summer school operations and the overall comfort of the buildings on warmer days.