Ways to keep kids from taking the heat

Mid-August now means welcome back to school. And time for the four R's:

Reading, Writing, Arithmetic -- and Roasting.

Whoever thought it was a good idea to start the school year at or near the middle of sultry August should have been at an Indian Prairie Unit District 204 meeting Monday. Parents let the school board know that they are angry that their children have to sit in hot classrooms.

The problem would be solved by air-conditioning all the schools. But this is an expensive proposition in District 204 -- $1.1 million per school (19 of 21 elementary schools are not cooled), with an additional $300,000 in annual operating costs. That money could be used to pay for things used year round -- computers, books, not to mention funding teacher and teacher aide salaries -- as opposed to air conditioning that would be used just a few days out of the school year.

There are alternatives to explore:

• Go back to starting school in September. According to statistics from the Midwestern Regional Climate Center, you can expect, on average, 2.3 days in a typical DuPage County September where the temps will hit 90 or above. In August, the average is 6.9 days.

Admittedly June can be hot. Indeed, the average number of 90-plus days in June equal that of August. But schools can research just how many of those 90-plus days in June come late in the month, when there would be no school. On the whole, June is a cooler month than August.

Or start the school year in September with fewer vacation days in order to stay out of most of June.

• Look at what it would it cost to retrofit schools to allow for open windows as opposed to installing air conditioning. This would make classrooms a little more comfortable on hot days and would also help improve the air quality in schools overall.

• If the temperature is forecast to be very hot on a given day in August, or even September or June, don't hold school that day. Take an inclement-weather day, just as when it's bitterly cold. Or start and dismiss schools earlier on these days. Nothing is going to be learned on a day when brains are being broiled anyway.

• Schedule field trips at the August-start of the school year, so schoolchildren are in cooler places like museums or outside in places like zoos or forest preserves.

Some think the best solution is to make the kids tough it out, just like they did in the old days. But that's hardly fair, when some schools are air-conditioned and others are not. And let's face it. This is a society that has become accustomed to air conditioning, as opposed to decades ago. It's rare not to have air conditioning in a home or building. Those who want kids to tough it out are probably the first to complain when the cooling system breaks down in their office building.

But there are ways to address heat in the classroom that wouldn't take much sweat, or money.