San Diego
Climbing temperatures are baking San Diego as its school districts search for solutions.
Baltimore City schools suffer from outdated infrastructure, mold, lead contamination, and a lack of funding that has prevented many schools from installing both heating equipment and air conditioning — especially in its lower-income communities and communities of color.
Read the ProfileClimbing temperatures are baking San Diego as its school districts search for solutions.
With only about 12 of 55 buildings equipped with air conditioning, and both students and teachers wearing masks all day, how would teachers and students fare in the heat?
Today, the challenges posed by COVID-19 have made the dire situation of unairconditioned schools all the more complicated.
In 2019, the capital construction costs to install window unit air conditioning in over 13,000 public school classrooms rose to $334 million — seven times the estimate from two years prior.
Many schools in Newark have only partial air conditioning, and others have only the heating and ventilation portions of their HVAC functioning due to budgetary constraints.
Aside from closing schools early on hot days, the district has also canceled afternoon sports activities and reduced summer school program offerings at schools without A/C.
The issue is widespread in Colorado’s capital city: 55 Denver public schools lack air conditioning, and that’s a big improvement from a decade ago.
As brutal temperatures creep into the spring and fall, schools in Northeast Ohio still lack the air conditioning they need. In September 2018, near-100°F heat prompted several school districts to cancel classes for days.
Even in schools with air conditioning, many units are failing, in need of repair or complete overhaul.
Many of Boston’s public schools were built before World War II and suffer from aging or lacking infrastructure. Others built in the 1970s are in desperate need of retrofitting and repairs.
Baltimore City schools suffer from outdated infrastructure, mold, lead contamination, and a lack of funding that has prevented many schools from installing both heating equipment and air conditioning — especially in its lower-income communities and communities of color.