PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The extreme heat Tuesday forced the School District of Philadelphia to dismiss students early, because most city schools do not have central air conditioning.
Fourth-grade students from Sheridan Elementary School in Kensington took their pleas for air conditioning directly to the Philadelphia School Board last week.
“If it gets too hot in our classrooms — kind of like today — these kids will get tired and won’t want to do any work,” student Jayden Hughes told the board at Thursday’s meeting.
“My school could have summer programs, but it’s really hot outside. Right now we don’t have any summer programs, because we don’t have any air conditioners,” Hughes said.
“It makes me not want to come to school, but I still come to school,” said fourth grader Cindy Hernandez. “I know I do not learn very well when I get hot and sweaty.”
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Student Ronald Perez said, without air conditioning, hot days in his classroom get more than uncomfortable. “When the school gets really hot, like an oven, students and staff get sweaty. And the sweating makes the school a little stinky, and it’s embarrassing,” Perez said. “One time I had to go home early because I was seeing things that were not there, like illusions, because the classroom was really hot.”
Sheridan was built in 1899. “This is one of those schools that hopefully the Facilities Planning Process can result in these kids and the school community getting a 21st-century school,” said school board President Joyce Wilkerson.
Forty percent of the Philadelphia School District’s 216 schools have central air conditioning, according to district spokeswoman Monica Lewis. The rest rely on window air conditioners where feasible. Thirteen schools are getting upgrades to their electrical systems, she said, to allow the schools to accommodate additional window units.
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One-third of elementary schools operated by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia are fully air conditioned, and 30% of its high schools have air conditioning, said spokesman Ken Gavin.