Mass. teachers unions explore new strategies to address hot classrooms

While many area school systems have already dismissed students for summer break, some, like Boston Public Schools, don't officially end the school year until Friday. That's a problem for the 10 BPS schools without air conditioning that must stay open during this week's heat wave, with the exception of Wednesday, the Juneteenth holiday.

BPS leaders have not announced any closures for the final two days of school. Spokesman Max Baker said the ten schools without air conditioning are too old to install cooling systems in and lack the infrastructure to support the energy demands.

He said in a written statement that the impacted schools have received fans to use in classrooms. "Students in these schools will receive cool treats, courtesy of our Food and Nutrition Services team," he added.

Officials with the Boston Teachers Union say they understand that BPS is in a difficult position. A majority of the district's 119 schools have air conditioning, so it's hard to justify closing school for everyone when the problem impacts a relatively small group.

Still, Jessica Tang, the outgoing president of the Boston Teachers Union and the new president of the American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts chapter, said the situation is unfair to the kids and teachers who have to teach in sweltering conditions.

"It's an equity issue," Tang said. "It's a vastly different experience in our schools when you have air conditioning and when you don't."

The BTU has tried to address the issue of hot classrooms through contract negotiations. The union's current contract has language that specifies that a classroom must close whenever the temperature inside "becomes too oppressive." But Tang says that's been hard to enforce since there's no solution yet as to where students and staff in an impacted classroom should move.

While Tang praised BPS for its efforts to install air conditioning systems in dozens of schools over the last two years, she urged the district to prioritize constructing new buildings.

The teachers union in Worcester also hopes to focus more on heat as a safety issue as extreme temperatures become a regular occurrence due to climate change.

"We have so many brick buildings and they just hold the heat," said Melissa Verdier, the president of the Educational Association of Worcester. "When you get up to the fourth floor in those buildings, it's just oppressive."

She added that she understands that installing air conditioning is a complex project. Most of the city's 50 schools were built before World War II and lack the infrastructure to support a major cooling system.

Due to this week's heat wave, Worcester Public Schools said it would cancel classes Thursday, making today, Tuesday, the last day of the school year.

Given the physical limitations of district buildings, the Educational Association of Worcester has been exploring several new ideas to address excessive heat in classrooms — like setting regulations around maximum classroom temperatures during the work day and installing cool water filling stations on every floor of a school building.

Verdier said she's glad school leaders decided to end the school year a day early so students don't have to suffer through the worst of this week's heat wave.

"I do think it's the right move," she said. "I think we're really teaching kids how to take care of themselves, because learning in a really hot environment is not good for you."

The Massachusetts Teachers Association, meanwhile, said a lot of school districts are struggling to retrofit their buildings with air conditioning. And hot classrooms are a significant concern for many educators.

"Members are very concerned when we get to June and also when we get back into school in late August and September, this issue is going to be front and center," MTA president Max Page said.

Several local teachers unions have tried to include contract language that addresses ventilation and excessive heat inside classrooms in recent years, Page said.

The MTA has been lobbying state lawmakers to allocate more money to the Massachusetts School Building Authority, the state agency that provides districts with the majority of funding needed for new school building projects. And most recently, the MTA has reminded members about federal rebates that can help schools fund cooling systems and other upgrades that rely on new green technology, like geothermal heat pumps and solar panels.

"We have to figure this out," Page said. "[Excessive heat] is dangerous and it's not conducive to good learning."