June In The Classroom: Hot, Hot, Hot!

By Susan Coney

With the school year extending until the third week in June, attending schools without air conditioning can be brutal, as staff and students found out earlier this week as extreme heat and humidity gripped the region.

According to the National Weather Service, the parameters of an extreme heat watch, warning, or advisory can vary by location. Generally when temperatures hover 10 degrees or more above the average high temperature for the region, and lasts for prolonged periods of time and are accompanied by high humidity, the body has a difficult time coping.

In frequent visits to Newtown schools on Monday and Tuesday this week, it was clear that some schools provide a much more comfortable learning atmosphere thanks to the technology of climate control.

After a few anonymous phone calls to The Bee complaining of the excessive heat affecting large numbers of students and staff, some schools without air conditioning were checked with a digital thermometer to determine just how hot the schools really were. While the most oppressive day so far was this past Monday, temperatures taken in the schools on Tuesday showed that it was still quite warm inside some classrooms.

Reed Intermediate School and Newtown High School are the only two local public schools with central air conditioning. Head O’ Meadow has air conditioning, but it is being renovated and not working at this time. All of the other elementary schools are without central air conditioning. Areas such as the nurse’s office, school offices, and computer rooms have air conditioning at every Newtown school. That means that the majority of the students and staff have had to sweat out the recent heat wave.

The upper floor of Hawley School recorded a temperature of 86 degrees. Newtown Middle School had comfortable areas and other areas that were just sweltering. The third floor of Newtown Middle School registered a temperature of 88 degrees. The middle school cafeteria was at 90 degrees; however, the sunlight pouring in from the skylights, the heat from cooking in the kitchen area, and the large number of children in the lunchroom were contributing factors in making that area even hotter.

Even under these conditions, classes continued as usual and everyone seemed to be working together to make the best of things. Fans were blowing in all classrooms and in several hallway areas. Classrooms lights were turned off when appropriate to help cool the rooms. Nurses at both Hawley and the middle school indicated that there had not been any health difficulties due to the hot weather.

Other area schools, including schools in Danbury and New Milford, let out early due to the extreme heat.

When Superintendent Evan Pitkoff was asked at what temperature would Newtown Schools dismiss early for extreme heat he replied, “There is no set temperature.” He went on to say that Building and Grounds Supervisor Dominick Posca had provided additional fans in areas where they were needed. He said that releasing the children early when parents were unprepared for it would be a problem and that he worried that the children might just go home and play outside in the extreme heat.

Newtown Middle School nurse Joyce LaForte urged that parents see to it that their children are dressed appropriately in lightweight clothes and continue to drink fluids to help prevent dehydration. “The kids’ bodies haven’t adapted to the hot summer weather; it’s usually not such a problem once they get acclimated to the heat,” she said.