Sara Mosle explains why air-conditioning matters.
When elected officials hear complaints about sweltering classrooms, they sometimes reply that back in the day, there was no air-conditioning.
Mosle points out that when the end of year tests are given, children in affluent districts with air-conditioned classrooms have an advantage.
When the Chicago Teachers Union complained about the lack of air-conditioning, many thought this a ridiculous demand.
Karen Lewis proposed that the administrators at central headquarters work without air-conditioning. That, of course, was unthinkable.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Air conditioning is the reason I left the classroom and went into administration.
Sent from my iPhone
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Maybe my snarkometer isn’t working but if that (the reason for leaving the class room) is so I hope I never have to work with you.
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I teach in an urban school, in a small classroom with no windows, no air-conditioning, and unsealed mold-infested cement blocks. It’s beyond hot and feels like a prison cell. The room is so small that I can’t walk up and down the aisles filled with 30 desks filled with high school students. The ceiling has multiple plastic skylights (think greenhouse) covered by shades that the fire marshall said must be removed because of fire hazard. I can’t imagine what this room will be like without shades.
Air-conditioning isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity. If these good ole days types press their memories, not only will they recall that they went to school in less overcrowded classrooms with huge windows and high ceilings, but they didn’t use projectors which add lots of heat, fluorescent lights, and school typically ended early June (not late June), and they went back to school after Labor Day, not August.
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I work in an urban school and my classroom gets sweltering! I brought a thermometer into my class and the temp. last week reached 99 degrees! I would love to see the corporate reformers at their HQ’s work in auch conditions
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If a dog was left in a car that was 99degrees, the animal rights activists would be all over it ! Yet our students are expected to work to their potential in those conditions. It’s just unbelievable !
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I work in a well-to-do suburban district and the school year is typically from mid-August to mid-June (or, increasingly, very-late-June-almost-July.) Still no air conditioning (except the newly-constructed office and cafeteria). That old, brick 2nd story gets so steamy, I don’t know how kids with asthma can even come to school once the outside temperature gets over 80. (we’ve already had a week in the 90s).
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Our state prison is air-conditioned at a crisp 65 degrees.
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And all of them get to eat, unlike many of the students that show up at my school with empty tummies.
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Bloomturd’s limo runs constantly throughout the summer so our dear leader never has to deal with one drop of sweat. Remember the generators for the gala dinner prior to the marathon while neighborhoods were destroyed and families were homeless? The mayor4life is always worried about himself and his rep. first and foremost
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All of us that have worked in older urban school buildings can tell stories of horrible conditions; windows that don’t open, electricity that goes out when someone plugs in one too many fans, poor lighting, stagnant air. I had to teach art in a high school art room that had no tables and chairs and no budget for supplies. When politicians complain about the poor performance of urban schools they need to accept some of the responsibility for allowing the neglect of the urban schools – after all they are the ones that control the money. What do they think will happen when they flat line the school budgets.
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If any company was run the way they run these school systems….they would be bankrupt in a heartbeat.
1. Office gets the best furniture…fit for a king and his court
2. office always has air
3. Office always has colored paper,copiers, pens, pencils. etc etc etc
Teachers have to beg those secretaries…..who seem to own the supplies..
..they beg and beg until they get so tired of it they spend their own money .
4. If it were not for Staples and their excellent teacher deals……..teachers would have no supplies except for the wee little bag they receive at the very beginning of the year..
1 pencil….2 pen….1 legal pad…2 board markers…10 manilla folders..
Yep…..
Everything works on the Hill and in the Kings Court…..but that is the only place…
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That sounds like the supply list I was given for teaching art, only instead of manilla folders we had one package of 8-1/2″ x 11″ copier paper. I spent over $1,000 that year of my own money. At least two of my students received full scholarships to college based on artwork from that class in their portfolio.
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I wonder if those “back in the day” folks will point out to the President that there was no internet, back in the day, to need access to?
There was also no high-stakes standardized testing.
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Common sense says children and teachers should have air conditioning for learning and health reasons, yet, I’ve never seen President Obama, Arne Duncan, or any politician or state education official concerned with temperatures in schools. Before we give every child a computer, give children and staff basic comfort.
I’d make a bet, the computers will get air conditioning before humans.
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I grew up in Louisiana and have always thought there was a correlation between the long-standing dismal test scores of this state and the record breaking heat. I attended elementary school with no air condition from K-3rd grade. In the 4th grade after selling a ton of world’s finest chocolate, the PTA was able to purchase ceiling fans for the school. Air condition wasn’t provided until years later. I was an overweight kid who was like a diabetic when it came to our “5 second countdown sip” at the water fountain when we were allowed water breaks. My thirst was never quenched. Back then the heat may very well have been frying our brains. Today, it is the testing that is accomplishing that. In a learning environment where there is an abundance of both sweltering heat and relentless testing, you can expect F’s galore. It is preposterous that in the 21st century there are still public schools that do not have air conditioning in this country. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs comes to mind. Perhaps Bill Gates, the Walton foundation, etc… can contribute to correcting these inequities among many others. That is at least a problem with a fixable solution.
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Afterthought…and to any executive who does not think that air conditioning is a necessity and has no impact on academic achievement or overall performance, there can be a special place reserved for you in a Louisiana voucher school in the deep south that has no air conditioning! As if there’s not already enough hot air being blown around in these parts…
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The building I work in was built 50-60 years ago. No air conditioning, except in the library, main office, and guidance office. On hot days, I have had students intentionally misbehave in order to be sent to the office. Fans are not provided so teachers spend their own money to buy them for their classrooms. I feel lucky because my room (although on the 2nd floor which is hotter) has windows. Some of my colleagues are in rooms with NO WINDOWS. Of course, my windows do not have screens. Opening the windows brings in flys and the occasional bee or wasp. Children that are allergic freak out. This year, since Hurricane Sandy and Blizzard Nemo forced closures, we will be in session until Friday, June 21 (and teachers must attend a professional day on June 24). We always begin school in the fall the week before Labor Day. We have been lucky this year to have a relatively cool spring, but we sufferred during the recent string of 90 degree days. I encourage my students to bring in water bottles, but some do not. I send them to the drinking fountain, so there is a steady stream of students in and out of class.
This is the setting in which I must teach, and students must learn…Here’s my challenge to someone who works in an airconditioned office (without 25 other people sharing your space): Come teach in my classroom for a day. I’ll even let you use one of my lesson plans. Maybe you could do the one about “close reading of nonfiction text” or “the subtle differences between rhyme and assonance” or “what is meant by the word ‘theme'” or “the three jobs of the adverb”. Any takers? Remember: no excuses.
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No ac in my school either, except for the office “hub”. On really bad days I will take my entire class to the office on a “field trip”. It annoys the heck out of the office staff, but we cool off for a few minutes at least.We keep talking about building a new school and when the day comes for a vote, I will gladly raise my taxes so my last few years of teaching won’t be spent trying to get kids to learn in a hot humid classroom.
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Love your field trip idea! I may borrow it. 🙂
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Be prepared for icy stares (pun intended) from the secretaries!
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And the New York Times gives a column to a TFAer to tell us what we all already know. How revolutionary or is it revolting?
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I taught physical education, mostly in middle schools in Fresno, CA., which most people regard as exceedingly hot (with some justification). Our gyms, sans air conditioning, on more than several occasions reached beyond the 100 degree mark. With 50 to 165 kids in the gym at any given time the humidity was also quite high. That our kids performed as well as they did was a tribute to their tenacity. They had their picture in the BEE on 3 different instances because they helped move forward the standard of the “New PE.” I have the most profound respect for both our students and for my colleagues who set and reached the highest standards under the most difficult conditions. Would have been nice if the “higher-ups” had actually cared.
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Plus don’t forget global warming. Plus more people in the US now live in warmer areas than before, because of the spread of AC.
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I know I sound like a broken record, but the longer school year people really didn’t consider air conditioning problems?
Not much on practicality, these innovators. They’re all Big Ideas people.
You underlings can worry about details!
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On the bright side, computer equipment doesn’t work very well in hot temperatures, so maybe the late spring through early fall will at least bring relief from computerized standardized tests.
Sad how far we have to stretch to find a bright side these days.
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Not only should the higher ups have to work a day without AC but they should have to wait by their office doors hoping another coworker will come by so that they can run to the restroom and not leave their offices unattended. They should have to go to another building to pick up a paper they printed from their computer and they should have to stand for the entire work day to present a proper teaching posture for effectiveness in instruction and classroom management.
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Yes!!! 🙂
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One thing you do not want is airconditioners that have a high sound level such as those they installed at LAUSD no matter the information we brought them from the world sound experts. When airconditioners are load no one can hear each other. LAUSD was installing coolers that were from 55-68 Db. At this level no one can hear each other. Better to not have them if you are interested in learning than to have the noisy ones even if you are cool as how can you learn if you cannot hear? Always do your homework. As a result of a friends suing these companies one of them woke up and spent a large sum of money on a 35 Db air conditioner and now they cannot keep them in stock as the demand is so high as corporations know that when it is quieter production goes up. What is the difference in the classroom? Always be careful of what you ask for. Always know the up and down sides. Another thing is concerning school budgets is that the quieter ones cost a little more but in 4-5 years they pay back from lower energy consumption and maintainance costs. Do the math.
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