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As children, teachers, and staff swelter in rooms lacking air conditioning, the school district has delayed installing AC for many years--even after it got money to do so.
Kindergarten children are getting sick and have to be shuttled out of their classrooms in hot weather. The district, which refuses to comment, has left a trail of broken promises made to parents.
Michael Balter
Aug 08, 2024
On December 6, 2022, voters in the Croton-Harmon school district voted 808 to 215 for a Future Facilities Capital Project worth $45.6 million. Among the many big ticket items the project was supposed to cover was air conditioning for sections of Carrie E. Tomkins Elementary School (CET) that currently do not have it. These areas include the entire kindergarten wing, the multipurpose/lunch room, the music room, and the gymnasium.
The lack of AC in many areas of all three of the district’s schools has been a burning issue for parents, teachers, and staff for at least the past 20 years. But as the days get hotter, with record breaking temperatures every year, and the number of hot months expands from May all the way to October, the lack of cooling has reached a crisis point.
Earlier this year, a kindergarten student had to be sent for emergency medical treatment after suffering what appeared to be heat stroke. Many other children have suffered from overheating and had to be moved to cooler areas or to the nurse’s office. As spring turns to summer, and in the fall, kindergarten kids are routinely shuttled out of their classrooms and into cooler parts of CET, often without their parents ever being told about it.
(The problem does not end when the school year does, because CET is used for summer camp and children and staff continue to work in incredibly hot conditions. See the temperature readings illustrated in this story.)
This report is based on interviews with numerous parents, teachers, and staff in the district. For fear of retaliation against them and in some cases their children, these sources have asked to remain anonymous. Meanwhile, school district officials have shut down communication with the Chronicle and refused to provide information about the situation or discuss it with us. Thus district superintendent Stephen Walker and school board president Ana Teague both declined to comment for this article. Before this shutdown of communication, however, district clerk Denise Bisaccia did tell us that the current plan was to install AC in the kindergarten wing by August 2025, or perhaps a bit earlier. READ AND SEE MORE AT As children, teachers, and staff swelter in rooms lacking air conditioning, the school district has delayed installing AC for many years--even after it got money to do so. (substack.com)
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WHEN I STARTED SCHOOL AGES AGO, YOU COULD BEGIN IN JANUARY . THAT MEANT PROBLEMS FOR STAFFING AND GRADUATION.
ReplyDeleteTO SOLVE THE PROBLEMS, SCHOOLS HELD CLASSES CONSECUTIVELY FOR 5 CONSECUTIVE SEMESTERS FOR THOSE STUDENTS WHO BEGAN SCHOOL IN SEPTEMBER BY TEACHING FOR 5 CONSECUTIVE STRAIGHT SEMESTERS.
FOR EXAMPLE, A FRESHMEN STARTING IN JANUARY OF ONE YEAR WOULD ATTEND THE SECOND SEMESTER IN JULY OF THE SAME YEAR (SUMMER SCHOOL). AT THE END OF THIS 2 MONTH HOT PERIOD, THE STUDENTS WHO PASSED THEIR TESTS WERE BONEFIED SOPHMORES AND JOINED THE PRIOR CLASS OF SOPHMORES FOR 2 MORE SEMESTERS AS JUNIORS.
I IF MY MATH IS CORRECT...5 CONSECUTIVE SEMESTERS!
LEST I FORGET, OUR CHEMISTRY CLASS WAS ON THE TOP FLOOR OF MY HIGH SCHOOL WHICH WAS COVERED BY TAR LIKE MANY SCHOOLS IN LOWER MANHATTAN.
SINCE I LIVED IN QUEENS, I TOOK THE NYC SUBWAY WHICH YOU MAY HAVE DONE. THEY WERE NOT AIR CONDITIONED. TALK ABOUT HEAT, HUMIDITY AND STRANGE SMELLS ESPECIALLY DURING RUSH HOURS. AND RAINY DAYS.
WHY DID I WRITE SUCH A LENGTLDHY RESPONSE AFTER READING MICHAEL BALTER'S LETTER ABOVE. IF HE'S CORRECT, LOOKS LIKE THE GOOD OLD SCHOOL DAYS HAVEN'T CHANGED MUCH. JUST THE LOCATIONS. IF YOU WANT TO FEEL HEAT, TRY WORKING IN A HOT KITC
What school is I guess versus what it can be.
ReplyDeleteOur grandson now goes to St. Augustine. Too much focus on all the more showy things.
ReplyDeleteIn Croton that is, all show, no go.
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