Board meeting heats up over air-conditioning

Air-conditioning –– or the lack of it –– became a heated topic at the Merrick School District Board of Education meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 9.

The lack of air-conditioning in classrooms at Birch, Chatterton and Levy-Lakeside elementary schools has been discussed for several years, more so when temperatures hit the mid-to high-80s during the first week of school, as well as in June, when school is ending.

“The newest buildings are 50-plus years old,” Merrick Superintendent Dr. Dominick Palma said. “Other buildings are 90-plus years old, so we really have to figure out how this can work as efficiently as possible.”

Trustee Sigal Negrin noted a temporary solution that teachers have raised in the past. “Some teachers have asked, ‘Why can’t we bring in our own air-conditioners and plug them in?’ I bet you if we gave them the go-ahead, they would do it in a second.”

Although that would help lower temperatures in rooms where teachers brought their own air-conditioners, Palma said, the solution is unrealistic.

“Window air-conditioning units wouldn’t work,” he said. “They’re too loud, they’re not made to cool off the size of a classroom, and they could cause serious electric power issues. The buildings aren’t wired to have 100 air-conditioners running heavy at one time.”

According to Levy-Lakeside teacher Ruth Rosenberg, who is involved in the Composition of Professional Development Team sub-committee, the rooms are too hot for the children and teachers to sit in. “I walked around the building this morning and recorded temperatures ranging from 82 to 86 degrees,” she said. “Kids and teachers are sitting in classrooms that have the same temperatures as outside, and that’s just in the morning. We’ve had too many kids going to the nurse already because of the heat.”