Trying to Beat the Heat

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In schools across America, and even throughout the world, kids can not wait for summer break. They begin to get anxious when the vacation time comes peeking around the corner and cannot wait to participate in the fun activities during summer. One main upside to the three months between switching grades is the warm weather. All kids enjoy wearing shorts and tank tops and going swimming in the warm months, but never see a downside to all the fun. For most kids in most schools, the temperature increasing is a sign of summer they love and look forward to. However, this is not the the case for the staff and students of Sunridge Middle School. Here at SMS, we have a heating system, but no air conditioning. With metal siding, and single pane aluminum windows on top of no form of cooling system, the occupants of the school often find themselves dreading May and June before the end of the year. Being an eighth grade student at Sunridge, I have experienced two, soon to be three, years of the heat. I don’t think working through ninety to one hundred degree weather is fair to the students who are still expected to go on with their classes. Although our school has many of the standard issues, like bullying, and kids not participating or working to meet their potential, I believe that the biggest problem facing our school today is the fact that every student must fight heat stroke while still trudging on through the year to pass classes and move on to the next grade.

Having to sit in a classroom in such hot working conditions is not a good way to learn. My mom is a new sixth grade teacher at the school this year and in September told me, "It's not a good sign when I get to work at six thirty in the morning and the temperature in my class is over 80 degrees." Some may argue it is inhumane to put kids through the temperature extremes and still expect them to keep up with the rough and challenging curriculum of common core. When interviewing seventh grader, Nicole Lee, she told me, “The biggest issue, by far, is the lack of air conditioning. It is torture to try and learn in June, especially with the new standards and pressure of Smarter Balance.” It is not healthy and productive to sit in a hot classroom and try to learn, so it is crucial the problem is fixed. With the new bond that was passed in Pendleton, there should be an air conditioning system put in place soon. Hopefully the city will make it a priority so the students and workers won't have to suffer too much long.

However, until the city can actually start the project and install the system, Sunridge will have to find different ways to cope with the heat. As of now, everyone will have to stick it out for one more year and just do what they can. Fans, water, and light clothes will be mandatory at the end of the year and beginning of the next if no cooling system is installed during the summer. All students who will be at SMS next year are praying and hoping for a major construction project to happen during the summer. As for the students leaving, they are just excited to be done with the problem. Most parents of students are antsy for an air conditioning system as well for more reasons than just unfair working conditions. During the hot months, all of the doors in the school are wide open and unmonitored. Without security, it would be easy for an intruder to enter with no trouble.

There is no short term solution rather than hydration and air flow using fans, so students are out of luck this year. They will have to buckle down and power through the rest of the year. Hopefully an air conditioning system will be installed soon, but right now SMS staff and students can only hope that the unreasonably warm temperatures will be taken care of for years to come.