Dist. 204 exploring options to cool elementary schools

Indian Prairie Unit District 204 took heat Monday night from some parents and teachers concerned about not having air conditioning in elementary schools.

A dozen people pleaded with the school board Monday to install air conditioning in the 19 of 21 elementary schools that do not currently have it. Most said they would agree to a tax increase to fund the project.

Owen and Peterson are the district's only air-conditioned elementary schools. Its middle and high schools all have air conditioning.

Many of the speakers said people's homes, offices and cars are air-conditioned and their schools should be as well. Parents of children with special needs said the heat is especially troublesome to their children's health and ability to learn.

Paul Gamboa, a third-grade teacher at White Eagle Elementary School, called his classroom a "pseudo convection oven."

"My room is not safe for all of my students. It is interfering with learning, it is interfering with my ability to educate my kids," he said.

Ann Davis, a parent in the district who is also a cardiologist, said children are at a high risk for heat-related illnesses.

"Poor indoor air quality with excessive heat will cause absenteeism," she said. "Good indoor air quality can improve student and staff concentration, improve student productivity and performance and reduce environmental triggers of asthma and reduce respiratory illnesses."

Jay Strang, director of buildings and grounds, said the district has been monitoring temperatures at the elementary schools at noon and 2 p.m. each day and found them ranging from the 80s to 90s. Second-floor classrooms were typically three to five degrees higher than first-floor classrooms.

He estimates retrofitting the schools for air conditioning would cost about $1.1 million per school and more than $300,000 in total annual operating costs.

The school district would need a tax increase via a referendum in order to be able to pay for such a project. David Holm, assistant superintendent for business, estimated this would cost the owner of a $300,000 home roughly $55 in additional property taxes for each of the next 10 years.

Some parents suggested portable air conditioning units, but Strang said these would present several problems including competing with ventilators that are already in place and needing to install special circuits to handle the units. Even if they were installed, he said portable units would not be strong enough to cool a classroom.

School board members said they are open-minded about the issue and agreed to direct administrators to continue studying possible solutions.

In addition to looking at cooling systems, they will explore options such as changing the ending time for classes, implementing split shifts or adjusting the school calendar.

Administrators will report back to the board at a later meeting and the board will then decide how to proceed.

If the board ultimately chooses to pursue a referendum, it has until late November to put it on the ballot for the Feb. 5 election. Otherwise, the next opportunity would be November 2008.

In the meantime, the district has been trying to beat the heat with fans, keeping blinds closed, rotating students through air-conditioned areas, encouraging water breaks and bringing students to lower floors of the buildings as needed.