Fall is starting to come forth, and with that, the cooling down of the weather also makes its entrance to the school year. And with that, there’s a crucial part of modern technology that we rely on every day in our classrooms: our air conditioning and heating systems. As they maintain the physical comfort of students, the regulation of temperature within the school provides the conditions for students and staff to work effectively, but sometimes that poses a challenge to regulate and suit the needs of all students.

Starting this year, there have been a few instances where the air conditioning has broken down, particularly in the 100 Hallway in many of the science classes.  According to chemistry teacher Amy Schulte, there were multiple occasions this happened with multiple reasons and lengths of time it took to resolve the issue, which caused the classrooms to grow warmer on different occasions.

“The air coming out from the air conditioning vents probably directly came from outside, so the air was pretty warm, and the rooms got very hot,” Schulte said. “The custodians were nice to bring out fans to stay as cool as possible, but it did get a little warm and uncomfortable.”

According to Schulte, the temperature of the classroom tended to cause her students to be a little more fatigued in the afternoon when the temperature outside would start to heat up in the middle of the day and when there was already a good amount of people in her room beforehand.

“It probably made the students a little more tired and uncomfortable,” Schulte said. “That said, I don’t think it caused a learning environment that was impossible to learn in…. I think everyone was just a little uncomfortable, that’s all.”

In spite of these conditions, students were able to continue on with their work and the staff were able to resolve these issues at a fast pace. Associate Principal and Athletic Director Mickey Masterson explained how he sympathizes for the students.

“I truly felt bad for the kids and teachers whose rooms were hot,” Masterson said. “It’s a frustration for everyone. I’m getting phone calls and emails, and I don’t blame them. It’s hard to go into a classroom when it’s hot, and it affects the mind process. But I know that when you’re cooling a building this size, it’s not always easy to keep the temperature similar from one part of the building to another.”