Comments on: Cold classrooms

By: maxparkteacher

maxparkteacher — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 00:25:43 +0000

At Maxwell Park Elementary our heat was off on a few cold days early this week….

A more chronic problem has been that the antiquated heating system, which is not controlled on site, has many times been set on bizarre schedules, or left on all night, so that teachers and students arrive to classrooms well over 90 degrees, with any plants and animals that live in our classrooms fried.

I know it has affected my student’s work this year, and it has been a massive waste of money and energy. A one-time investment in a modern climate control system would save the district thousands in maintenance calls and energy consumption for years to come.

By: maestra

maestra — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 18:56:54 +0000

in response to:

# HistoryMan Says:
December 2nd, 2010 at 6:18 pm

This is California, come on people….

Right. Try using that logic at another place of business. Why should teachers and students be expected to deal with a poorer environment than office workers?

By: Yet Another Oakland Teacher

Yet Another Oakland Teacher — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 16:25:19 +0000

And in classrooms with furnaces – they put the thermostats on the furnace itself, so that corner gets warm and the rest of the room stays cold. My toes are warm for the first time this week today.

By: Turanga_teach

Turanga_teach — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 04:10:07 +0000

Brookfield’s been in the cold a fair bit this week, though I think it’s been solved… And yes, folks, it’s California, but energy-inefficient older schools in California are sometimes colder INSIDE than they are on the yard.

By: FormerOaklandEducator

FormerOaklandEducator — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 03:30:33 +0000

Heat was out at the West Oakland Middle School campus too.

By: HistoryMan

HistoryMan — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 02:18:39 +0000

This is California, come on people….

By: brrrr

brrrr — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 01:35:40 +0000

nope…. no heat at Claremont. But some Administrators were able to find space heaters for their offices and work areas. My students have been miserable with no where to stay warm. And Steve is right…… when it’s hot outside…. the heaters still blow at Claremont… just no heat when it’s cold outside.

By: Oakland Teacher

Oakland Teacher — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 01:18:48 +0000

Last year my school was without heat for two months. When the parents complained to me, I suggested they file a Williams complaint. That did get the district moving. Supposedly there was a part “on back-order” all that time, and it miraculously appeared 2 days after the Williams Complaint was filed.

If your school is without heat for more than 2 days, you should file Williams complaints. And like Sharon says, write down the temp daily.

By: Steven Weinberg

Steven Weinberg — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 00:09:32 +0000

When I taught at Claremont 15 years ago I had a lesson that compared life in the colonial period to life today. The article mentioned that colonial children had to bring logs to school to keep the fire going in their classroom, and I remember students sighing and saying how lucky those children were to have heat in their classes.
These problems should have been corrected years ago, and what makes them worse is that for every cold day with no heat there will be a hot day when the heaters will be going full blast.

By: SkylineHighSenior

SkylineHighSenior — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 23:58:54 +0000

Had to go to the library three times this week because it was too cold in my AP Government class. It was fixed by today though and a worker came to check up on it.