Hot classrooms are impairing student learning and health amid record-hot year, teachers say

When classes started this week in Florida’s Polk County school district, fourth-grade teacher Emily Heath and her students returned to a sweltering classroom with faulty air conditioning and temperatures in the 80s."They say, 'It’s too hot in here. I can’t focus. I can’t do my work. My head hurts. I’m sweating. I’m thirsty,'" Heath said.

The issue of excessive heat in classrooms is not new, as in previous years aging school buildings with inadequate air conditioning have led schools to shut down early and switch to remote learning. Tawni Eckley, a fourth-grade teacher in Loveland, Colorado, returned to her unconditioned classroom in a brick school building this week and a thermostat that on Thursday read 84 degrees.

“They’re doing the best they can with the money that they have, but the money just isn’t there,” she said.found that more than 13,700 public schools that did not need cooling systems in 1970 now have installed HVAC systems or will need to install one by 2025, at a cost of over $40 billion. The report also found that an additional 13,000 schools or more will need to upgrade their existing HVAC systems, at a cost of more than $414 million.

Kelly Dutro, a high school teacher in Albuquerque, New Mexico, said she has been dealing with air conditioning issues since school began for students on Aug. 3. "This has never happened in the time that I’ve been president here for the union," said Yocum, who has led the union for four years.Polk County Public Schools said in a statement Thursday that it has been “experiencing some of the hottest temperatures in recorded history. This has created a surge in the number of AC issues that we typically experience this time of year.”

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