St. Charles teachers struggling to stay cool

Teachers try to shout over the hum of fans.

Sweaty students dash frequently to the water fountain.

It can be difficult to focus in a sweltering classroom where attention is paid more to temperatures than textbooks.

The St. Charles teachers union is citing these reasons and others in a renewed push to get air conditioning in all 17 District 303 schools.

"The teachers are dying out there," St. Charles Education Association President Pam Turriff said Wednesday. "They're exhausted, and the students are exhausted. It's not a good learning environment."

Turriff made her case Tuesday to the St. Charles school board while representing more than 1,000 union members.

She said teachers want the district to install air conditioning across the entire school system, push back the school year or shorten class times on particularly hot days.

Superintendent Donald Schlomann said he doesn't expect a quick fix. Air conditioning district-wide could cost about $20 million, and he doesn't favor cutting the amount of time students spend in the classroom.

Whether the district goes to taxpayers for the money or delays the start of the school year until after Labor Day likely will be up to residents Schlomann is assembling for a "community engagement" effort, he said.

"I've received hundreds -- I'm talking triple digits -- of e-mails from parents," Schlomann said. "What this leads to really will be up to them as they take part in this discussion."

Currently, only the district's two high schools are completely air-conditioned. With the exception of the gymnasium, Wredling Middle School is air-conditioned, as are older parts of Fox Ridge and Ferson Creek elementary schools.

Most libraries and offices across the district also have cooling systems.

Turriff said the lack of classroom air conditioning takes a toll each year -- especially when it starts with temperatures reaching into the 90s, as it did last month.

"This is my 22nd year in this district, and I've been told about that long we will discuss this and do something," she said. "Twenty-two years is long enough."