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School Safety

Overheated Classrooms

It's one of the most dreaded parts of the beginning and end of every school year: critically overheated classrooms affecting teachers' ability to teach and students' ability to learn. 

It's hot. It’s sticky. Temperatures above 100 degrees are reported.

And New York still hasn’t done anything about regulating classroom temperatures for overheating.

Dizziness, dehydration, difficulty breathing are some of the more serious concerns. Lack of concentration, eyes glazed over are others. Nausea, headaches and irritability. Adolescent sweat glands on overdrive can make stuffy rooms even more uncomfortable as perspiration smells overtake rooms.

The stories featured below are just a few of the hundreds of submission from parents and educators about extreme classroom temperatures.

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Tell Your Story

Do you have a story about extreme heat or cold in your classroom? Please share it so we can continue to push to address this issue. 

York Central School

"At our school there are three teachers who have been assigned classrooms that reach into the 90's on hot spring, summer and fall days. The rooms look over a courtyard and are surrounded by three large brick walls. There is no airflow at all... Last year a thermometer in one of the rooms reached 100 degrees. Our principal said she would get us a fan. Having children work in these conditions is inhumane."

Hyde Park

"In the beginning of the year, it was unbearable in my classroom. The students and I had a very difficult time concentrating on learning. The heat was oppressive! Fans did not help much at all with the humidity. The heat index on several of the days was very high, and it is not healthy for anyone to be without air conditioning on those days. How can children learn when they are sweating, dehydrated, and exhausted from the heat?"

Lindhurst

"The ventilation is so bad in my classroom that in the winter, the room is under 60 degrees, and the district will not allow us to bring in heaters. In May and June on hot days it can reach as hot in the room as 100 degrees. There is an overhead garage door in the room I cannot open it because of the possibility of an active shooter, and the windows don't open."

New York City

"I work in a building from the late 1800s and our electrical wiring has since not been updated in several parts of our school. The first few days of school were brutal with over 90° temperatures. I had no air conditioning in my therapy room with special needs students…Our poor cafeteria staff has no air-conditioning and their room gets over 100° DAILY. It is a safety hazard and mind-boggling that we are still forced to work in said conditions."

Tell us about the heat in your classroom.

Your feedback helps in our ongoing efforts to address overheated workspaces and learning environments. Tell your story using the form below or send us a video.