Imagine. The teacher arrives early, immediately opens the windows, pulls down the blinds and turns on the fans, strategically placed throughout the classroom.
A cool breeze soon fills the classroom, blowing out the lingering heat and stale smells from the previous day.
Soon, 28 students arrive, dressed in as little as they can get away with and armed with water bottles fresh out of the freezer.
Within the first hour of the school day, the heat rapidly rises, so the windows are closed and half the lights are turned off to try and maintain the room temperature.
Though they hate to do it, the fans must be turned off in order to hear directions and hold discussions. During independent work, the fans will quickly resume running.
By lunchtime, the blacktop outside the windows has absorbed the 90+-degree heat, reflecting it into the classroom. The ice in the water bottles is long gone, leaving behind a puddle of water on each desk.
After lunch, the 28 students return from the playground and you can almost see the heat radiating from them. The temperature in the classroom immediately rises another 10 degrees so the lights are turned off completely and the students gather in front of the fans to cool off while the teacher reads (loudly) to them from the current class novel.
Before long, the students lose interest in all academics and grow tired and cranky. The room is unbearable and the only solution is to go outside and work in the shade of one of the large oak trees on the front lawn of the school.
Several other classes have also gathered under a tree and teachers are trying to keep their students on task and motivated.
The day just can’t seem to end soon enough and discussion turns to cold showers, swimming pools and the wish for cooler weather.
I have just outlined for you a typical August school day in many Denver Public Schools. I know that this story is true because I am a teacher who has taught for more than fifteen years in a school that has no air conditioning!
With August temperatures soaring into the 90s, I can’t help but wonder why Denver schools are starting so early yet again.
I have pondered many reasons for this and have come to the conclusion that maybe the reason lies in DPS administration’s detachment from the daily reality experienced by many of its teachers.
That being stated, I am asking the DPS administration to connect to their teachers by experiencing this plight themselves .
I would like to suggest that during the month of August, the air-conditioning in the Administration Buildings be shut down by 10:00 each day (the time that the schools that are not air conditioned become unbearable).
I’m not kidding!
This would not only make us team players but it would also save the district money that could be spent upgrading schools.
If this isn’t an option, how about starting school after Labor Day and working into June (a month that rarely has 90 degree days).
I guarantee that if the superintendent and the school board members spend one full week in an overcrowded classroom without air-conditioning, that would be enough to change their mind about starting the school year in August.
Hey, I’ve been doing it for more than fifteen years; I’m only asking them to try it for one week.
L. Eaton lives in Denver.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is an online-only column and has not been edited.
