As Summer approaches, the temperatures increase inside and outside our school. Lately, we’ve been experiencing temperatures well over 70 degrees, creating a warm atmosphere and the use of little to no clothing on students. Many sources stated that the air conditioning would be turned on Wednesday, May 15th, but this is too late of a date. This has become a big issue due to students feeling uncomfortable during the school day and unable to complete assignments to the best of their ability.
We can see or more so feel in the English hallway that the classes get the most humid and warm, making the environment unworkable for many, especially the teachers. “It’s too hot and unfair to us.” Ashley Rysz, a fellow Journalism student states. Even when students complain about the air conditioning being off, the administration cannot do anything about this as it is the command above them who makes the decision to turn on the AC at all of the schools.
The consequences of not having proper cooling measures put in place can also be seen in the scores of students taking IB and AP exams. One student, who remains unnamed, claims “The CGS community room felt like 90 degrees during my exam. It was unbearable and I couldn’t concentrate.” It’s important to realize that with these tests we also need to have a good environment around students, and if not, it can deter their attention away from the quick concentration they need and the ability to answer questions before the timer ends.
Though there is nothing we can do to fix these problems now, these issues should be noted in the future. It would be beneficial to turn the air conditioner on before exams in order to reduce the amount of stress students would get from being overwhelmed from the heat. Moreover, we should also ask the question of why all schools in the district need to be turned on at the same time and if it really matters if we change the date of airflow to earlier. The Brien McMahon Community would much rather learn with nice cool ventilation refreshing our faces than hot, musty air making us sweat.
