By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
The library at Bowling Green High School was uncharacteristically popular during the first five days of school last week.
It is air conditioned.
But in other classrooms, the teachers were drenched with sweat and the students were drowsy from the heat.
Clay Kalaf-Hughes’ classroom was the winner in the fan count – with seven working fiercely to cool the room in the early afternoon.
“I get here super early, to try to get cool air in,” Kalaf-Hughes said. But it’s more of a psychological than actual relief. “It’s perception, that if it’s moving around, it’s cooling.”
The temperatures – which have been measured at over 100 in some classrooms – make it difficult for even the most dedicated students to say focused in class.
“It’s a struggle to have students concentrate in such a hot environment,” said Kalaf-Hughes, who teaches English and history. “It’s a real battle.”
The high school is one of three Bowling Green City School buildings to not have air conditioning. Kenwood and Conneaut elementaries also have none, while the Middle School and Crim Elementary do have cooling.
The first and last weeks of the school year can be brutal for students and staff in the sweltering buildings. Superintendent Francis Scruci has referred to the students as pools of butter sitting in the heat.
The sauna like temperatures don’t make for a good learning – or teaching – environment.
High School Principal Jeff Dever concurs. “It’s just a show stopper,” he said of the oppressive heat in the school. And that was even last week, when school was in its “honeymoon period” of the new year – a time when kids are excited about school and acclimated to heat from the summer.
“Kids are attentive. They are trying,” he said. “But they are not operating at peak performance.”
Dever pointed out that the hot conditions are not tolerated at most workplaces. “Almost every other building you go to in town is air conditioned.”
One teacher, now retired, used to post a sign reading, “They air condition prisons.”
But the solutions to cool the school are quite expensive since the building has no ductwork. Rough estimates for installing air conditioning just to the high school went as high as $15 million.
So the superintendent looked for a temporary solution that might provide some relief until school buildings are renovated or replaced. He had heard of a district with a similar situation that cooled its schools with temporary air conditioning units. The company that handled the project was asked to calculate how much it would cost to cool Bowling Green’s schools for the first weeks at the beginning and end of the school year.
The total for cooling the high school, Conneaut and Kenwood was estimated at $101,500 a month.
“I don’t think that’s a reasonable option,” Scruci said. “That’s not a doable number.”
Dever appreciates the fact that Scruci is looking for a solution.
“Thanks to our superintendent, he’s raised it as an issue,” Dever said.
But any action will take lots of money, and community support. “Our voters are going to determine that,” Dever added.
Some question why the district starts the school year so early – on Aug. 15 this year – when the temperatures are often unbearably high. The school board made a decision to start early to avoid breaking for the holidays during the middle of a quarter, since that meant a lot of time had to be spent on reviewing curriculum before continuing the quarter.
The earlier start also aids in student preparation for the state standardized testing in the spring.
There were plans to put air conditioning in the east wing of the high school, when it was added. But those plans were scrapped due to the expense. So Tom Ross instead runs six fans in his English classroom.
“It’s murder in here,” he said one afternoon last week. “The heat is bad, but the humidity is horrible.”
The afternoon periods are the worst, with the sun coming in his west windows. That particular afternoon, students were writing essays. One particularly good student succumbed to the heat. “She could hardly keep her eyes open,” Ross said.
Ross tried to comply with the administration’s request that male teachers wear ties in the classroom. But by the end of the week, he just couldn’t take it anymore. “I’ve been wearing ties with a shirt, but I can’t do it.”
The problem isn’t just at the beginning of the school year. At the end of the school year, it can be equally as stifling when the sun hits the west wall of his classroom, and a room full of students add in their body heat, said Jeff Nichols, who teaches social studies.
“Last spring, on the real hot days, it got upwards to 100 degrees,” Nichols said of his classroom.
Last week, every classroom has at least three fans running, Dever said. “And that just takes the edge off.”
Angelina Poffenberger has four fans in her room, and keeps the lights turned off to reduce heat. “I felt like a snowman melting,” she told her students on the first day.
“It’s just disgusting,” she said, then added with a smile, “I’ve lost a couple pounds.”
Poffenberger worries about the effect on the students. “They are tired. It just drains them,” she said. “It’s not a conducive environment for learning.”
Students who get seriously overheated are sent to the nearest drinking fountain or to the office, which is air conditioned.
Dever, whose shirt was wet with sweat just from walking around the school, has a hard time with the office area being air conditioned. “I feel really guilty,” he said.
The guidance office, library and computer labs are also cooled. “They became very popular,” he said of the library and labs.
“I’ve been very proud of the kids and teachers fighting through it,” Dever said, looking forward to cooler days ahead.
