Keeping students cool on District 25 agenda

More than one Arlington Heights parent has offered to buy a window air-conditioning unit for their child's classroom.

It's a tough deal to pass up.

"It's a nice gesture, but not possible from an efficiency point of view," said Sarah Jerome, superintendent of Arlington Heights Elementary District 25.

It's not only parents who have voiced support for spending $11 million to air-condition all nine District 25 schools. For six months, students and teachers also have spoken in favor of the idea. The school board will vote on the issue Dec. 13.

On Monday, the school board heard about a quicker timeframe.

The school board has been discussing the air-conditioning issue for almost a year. Originally the plan called to air-condition one school a year, completing all District 25 schools by 2016.

However, that timetable has changed. Now the plan is to air-condition all nine schools by 2009, Jerome said.

South, Thomas, Greenbrier and Olive-Mary Stitt would be air-conditioned in 2008. Work on Dryden, Ivy Hill, Patton, Westgate and Windsor would take place in the summer of 2009.

Generally, school board members had questions only about financing and not whether to spend $11 million for the project, Jerome said.

"They see the merits of this," she said. "Parents are overwhelmingly in support of this project. Most parents don't understand why we didn't install air conditioning a long time ago."

Once all nine schools are fully air-conditioned, District 25's energy costs are expected to increase by about $40,000 a year, Jerome said.

The District 25 school board will vote on the air conditioning at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 13 at Thomas Middle School, 1430 N. Belmont Ave. in Arlington Heights.

The meeting is open to the public.

A project summary including a breakdown of costs can be found at www.ahsd25.k12.il.us under "school board."