Once Chicago Public Schools parent Marcelina Pedraza arrived at George Washington Elementary School’s Back to School Bash on Thursday, she said she was “accosted” by two things: a teacher who told her the air conditioning wasn’t working in multiple classrooms, and the mugginess of the combined cafeteria-auditorium.
Cooling and other HVAC issues aren’t new at George Washington, said Pedraza, an electrician who’s also chair of the Local School Council for her daughter’s school. “Parents are concerned that the school will have functioning AC by Monday because we’re used to being braced for something.”
With temperatures forecast to hit the 90s during the first week of school, Pedraza said she’s grateful the district committed to providing portable air conditioners in classrooms without functioning AC by Monday, the first day of the new CPS school year. But she said there’s no timetable for repairs to permanent units — and the ongoing problems are symptomatic of why the East Side community has been advocating for a new, green school.
“We seem to keep getting more Band-Aids on our situation, temporary fixes,” she said, noting the school has a new playground — while children who’ll be playing in the heat may not have sufficiently cool classrooms.
CPS facilities assessment data show cooling breakdowns occur regularly across the district. Meanwhile, the number of school days requiring cooling is on the rise, as climate change increases the frequency and duration of extreme heat.
The district also fixes cooling units regularly, expenditure reports show. But any amount of overexposure to heat can have far-reaching impacts on students’ health and learning, research shows. District expense reports also don’t appear to encompass fixes at all schools with failed cooling units, according to a review by the Tribune.
And experts say the learning environment in classrooms with portable units — and the window units installed across the district by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration — aren’t comparable to classrooms with central AC, given the noise those units produce, their unequal distribution of cooling within classrooms and the lack of filtration.
A district spokesperson said 99% of CPS buildings had air conditioning as of Wednesday, but didn’t specify the percentage of classrooms with AC.
“Keeping students and staff safe, cool, and healthy as they return to school this year is our number one priority,” CPS said, adding that the district is prepared to address any concerns that arise as students and teachers head back to classrooms. “In the event that a cooling system is not operational, CPS will provide temporary cooling where possible to ensure a comfortable level of cooling for students and staff while repairs are made.”
Pedraza and another parent said cooling is uneven in the schools their children attend. And CPS facilities data show various individual classrooms and multipurpose rooms, such as computer labs, art rooms and libraries, lacking AC.
Those are often interior spaces, while window units only serve exterior-facing classrooms — and are prone to breaking down, said Paul Chinowsky, a professor emeritus in civil, architectural and environmental engineering at the University of Colorado who researches the impact of climate change on schools and associated costs.
“They’re cheaper when you first get them, but they’re not made to run 10 to 11 hours a day, especially in this level of heat and humidity,” he said.
Students in classrooms with window and portable units also don’t receive the same air quality as their peers with central AC, he added.
“A window unit doesn’t have an intake; it’s just pumping stale air,” Chinowsky said. “Portable units are even worse. They sit on the ground, and all they’re doing is recycling air.”
Central air conditioning systems change the air at least six times every hour, he said.
Pedraza said her daughter complains about hot and cool zones at school — an effect Chinowsky said window units produce.
“If you’re sitting right near those units, you get cold,” he said. “If you’re sitting 20 feet away, you’re not getting quite the same benefit. So you’ve got cold kids, you’ve got warm kids. They’re not really designed for a classroom environment.”
For every degree that temperatures rise in classrooms, students’ ability to learn is reduced by 1%, a Harvard University study of 10 million PSAT test-takers found — among other research that shows heat’s adverse impact on learning. Children are also more vulnerable to the health effects of heat, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, because their bodies warm faster, they sweat less, they spend more time outdoors and they rely on adults to stay cool.
Classroom temperatures should not exceed 73 to 79 during warm months, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. But there’s no national requirement or oversight of temperature conditions in schools.
“There’s never any magic number where everyone is comfortable,” said Wade Conlan, a board member of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers. But it’s important to ensure temperatures stay in a range that’s comfortable for most people, he said.
“People recover faster when they’re in the right environment. You learn better when you’re in the right environment, you lose less days at work when you’re in the right environment. It’s critical for students.”
Whether portable units can ensure comfortable levels, he said, depends on whether enough pieces of equipment required to cool the space are provided.
“If you don’t have the right tonnage, you’re just kind of tempering heat, so that it’s not 90, it’s 80 — when you’re really trying to get to 74 to 75,” Conlan said.
Meanwhile, the number of school days requiring air conditioning is on the rise, with CPS students projected to experience 38 school days with temperatures above 80 by 2025, according to Chinowsky’s research with the Center for Climate Integrity.
That’s an increase of 12 school days requiring AC over the number CPS experienced in 1970, amounting to an annual operating cost of $37.5 million, the study found. Chinowsky also notes other changes over time have resulted in greater exposure to heat in schools, such as security concerns that prohibit many schools from opening doors and windows to create a breeze on hot days, “essentially creating a sauna.”
When the National Weather Service issues a heat advisory, CPS said it opens windows and doors to keep air circulating and ensures staff members and students are sufficiently hydrated, while closing shades, turning off overhead lights and limiting recess.
The challenge of providing adequate cooling isn’t unique to CPS. A Government Accountability Office study found a third of districts across the country need HVAC upgrades, with crumbling infrastructure and lacking funding widespread.
According to a spokesperson, the average CPS school is 83 years old and multiple infrastructure issues plague the district, which is prioritizing roof, building envelope, mechanical, electrical and plumbing needs as well as facility construction to relieve overcrowding and the expansion of universal pre-K and other programs.
As for solutions, Chinowsky said there are brewing conversations around the country on forcing fossil fuel companies to foot the bill of the rising cost of schooling amid climate change.
Pedraza said that, rather than retrofitting her daughter’s aging school, she places her hope in continuing to fight for a new facility.
“If we were to have new green schools with more energy efficient technology, that will make a huge impact on our environment,” Pedraza said, “and ideally, provide the comfortable climate that students need to learn.”
