Philadelphia’s summers are getting longer and hotter, and its low-income neighborhoods are paying a disproportionately high price. The city’s communities that suffer from a history of racist redlining policies, like Cobbs Creek, Point Breeze, Strawberry Mansion, and Hunting Park, are experiencing as much as 10°F more in increased average daily temperatures in comparison to their wealthier neighbors in Philadelphia, according to a 2020 study published in the journal Climate — but lack the funding and resources they need to keep themselves cool.
Philadelphia’s under-resourced schools, many of which were built in the 1940s, are plagued by crumbling infrastructure, leaks, asbestos, mold, rodents, and a lack of air conditioning that many say wouldn’t be tolerated in richer, whiter school districts in the suburbs. But because Pennsylvania’s schools are largely funded by local property taxes and the city’s tax base is strained, the challenge of wiring old buildings and installing air conditioning can be insurmountable.
Hannah Zieve taught in an unairconditioned high school classroom in Northwest Philadelphia for five years before going remote during the pandemic. The school where she worked couldn’t afford to make the upgrades necessary for its electrical system to handle new air conditioners, she said, and they weren’t alone. Zieve said she doesn’t know any other teachers in the district who have worked in a fully air-conditioned building.
“There were lots of days where it was 85°F for many days in a row, so not hot enough according to the district to release early — and it was miserable,” Zieve said. “Having a classroom that is starting at 80°F and then is filled with 30 teenage bodies is just horrifying. You would see over the course of the day students getting more and more lethargic, exhausted.”
The flip side is that when students are released early, learning time is sacrificed. During a late-summer heat wave in 2018, Philadelphia students were dismissed early five times over a two-week period. “Our children had to see their school days shortened, struggling through heat indexes of 100, while children in the wealthiest parts of our state — Lower Merion, Radnor — went to full-day learning," Philadelphia City Councilwoman Helen Gym said during a 2018 press conference where she and other local officials called on the state to fund a dormant reimbursement program for school construction projects, including repairs to older buildings.
That year, approximately one-quarter of Philadelphia public schools had air conditioning. Officials estimated in 2018 that it would cost $145 million to install air conditioning in every Philadelphia classroom — but in districts with tight budgets, outdated buildings, and electrical systems that aren’t equipped for air conditioning, that money is often siphoned toward other needs, like school security. “Should we put the money into air-conditioning or safety? Usually, safety’s going to win out on that,” Mark DiRocco, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators, told the Philadelphia Inquirer in 2018.
Today, the challenges posed by COVID-19 have made this dire situation all the more complicated. In February 2021, Philadelphia school district officials announced that they would attempt to ventilate unairconditioned buildings, some of which are over 100 years old, by adding window fans to 1,100 of the city’s classrooms. But some teachers and parents feel that isn’t good enough — especially since so many of the district’s buildings have poor air quality to begin with.
Even once the brunt of the COVID-19 crisis passes, climate change means schools will need to find a fix other than fans, water bottles, and canceled classes. “As the climate crisis worsens and severe weather events, including extreme heat waves, increase in frequency, we need to ensure that our school buildings are safe places to learn. In Philadelphia, where many of our schools have sorely needed repairs for years, this mandate is even more urgent,” said Philadelphia Councilmember Kendra Brooks.
“What’s clear is that we can’t ensure that every school has adequate heating, cooling, and ventilation systems with the funding that our public schools currently have. It will take massive investments in our school building infrastructure to give our kids the learning environments they deserve, and working-class taxpayers should not have to foot the bill alone.”
The School District of Philadelphia will incur some of the highest cooling costs in the country. To read more about all of Pennsylvania’s schools, check out the Pennsylvania state page.