Who wants cool schools?

Indian Prairie Unit District 204 wants to take the temperature of the community on the issue of installing air conditioners in elementary schools.

The school board decided Monday that it will survey residents to find out if they would be willing to approve a tax increase to install air conditioning in the 19 of 21 elementary schools that don't currently have it. The project would cost roughly $35.3 million to $45.6 million depending which type of system the district installs.

Superintendent Stephen Daeschner said the district needs to "test the waters" with the public.

"That, certainly, I believe is an intermediate step," he said. "The board needs that information before they go to a final decision."

Owen and Peterson are the only elementary schools that have air conditioning. Parents and staff members at the remaining schools have repeatedly asked the board over the years to find a way to combat the heat in classrooms, which they say is both unsafe and a distraction to learning.

Classroom temperatures on some days at the beginning of the school year ranged from the 80s to 90s. At Fry Elementary, the heat index reached as high as 96 degrees and averaged 80.3 degrees in the first month of classes, according to a study by Jay Strang, director of buildings and grounds.

For the past month, he and other administrators have studied a variety of solutions.

Strang presented the board with four options for air conditioning systems Monday ranging from $5.7 million for window air conditioners to $45.6 million for a dedicated outside air system in each building.

The cheapest options presented a variety of problems, including inability to control humidity as well as security and maintenance concerns. As a result, the board narrowed the options to two -- a four-pipe system for $35.3 million or the dedicated outside air system for $45.6 million.

If the district decides to install such systems, it may be able to install them at only four or five schools per year to maintain quality control, according to Strang.

Paying for either of these options would require a tax increase via a referendum, so the board agreed to perform a telephone survey of 400 to 500 voters. Doing so will take about six weeks and cost the district about $16,000 to $17,000.

Prior to the meeting, Nancy Pedersen, assistant superintendent for human resources, had also met with the teachers union to talk about solutions in three categories -- adjusting the school day, maximizing existing conditions (for example, by opening emergency exit windows), or air-conditioning the buildings.

Board member Bruce Glawe put those options in three categories of his own.

"I call one avoidance ... one I call getting by and one I call a real solution, which is air conditioning," he said.

The earliest the board could put a referendum on the ballot is Feb. 5, but it has only until the beginning of December to decide whether it will do so.

Cool: Survey to gauge support for referendum