Heat Days and Air Conditioning Could Be Coming to SBunified

A plan for closing school during excessive heat and installing air conditioning was released by the school district on September 13.

The ParentSquare message described criteria for when schools should insert minimum days. It also outlined the pricing and plausibility of installing air conditioning in schools throughout the district.

The district’s current plan will define a “normal” day as 82ºF. If the temperature exceeds that point, precautions will be taken to preserve student health. From 83-92ºF classes will limit physical activity. For 93-95ºF, activities may be rescheduled, and classes will try to remain indoors. 96ºF or above will qualify as a “heat day”, and may incur a minimum day.

In addition to these precautions, the school district is currently considering installing air conditioning systems within the schools. Due to various costs associated with AC installation, the announcement predicted that it would cost about $43 million to install HVAC(Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) systems in schools throughout the district.

The California Energy Commision currently has around $200 million which can be given to schools in need of funding for ventilation/air conditioning systems. DP(and SBUnified overall) has applied for a portion of this funding, and was awarded it. While this money will help us assess and repair our current HVAC systems, it cannot be used to install new systems, so this means that the school will need to find their $43,000,000 elsewhere.

Although air conditioning services likely won’t be coming to DP immediately, hopefully the heat precautions will help make the days more bearable during the next heat wave, which is coming next week.