Fire in the Hole!

Is it just me, or is it hot in here? I'm talking about the school. Has anyone else noticed how hot it is? (That's a rhetorical question. Of course you've all noticed! How could anyone not notice a temperature of 96 degrees fahrenheit? That was the reading on the thermometer in Mrs. C's science classroom duiring seventh period yesterday.) And then in Mr. T's class, there's this blue handout stapled by the door. It's a memo from the "safety coordinator." The subject is "Hot Envirnoments," and it was apparently distributed to all the teachers in schools that still have no air-conditioning...of which ours is one. I took the liberty of copying some of the most interesting passages from the memo:

"The body reacts to high external temperature by circulating blood to the skin which increases skin temperature and allows the body to give off its excess heat. However, sweating is effective only if the humidity level is low enough to permit evaporation and if the fluids and salts lost are adequately replaced."

Why is this information teachers and students should even have to bother with?! I'll tell you why: The fat cats working out of air-conditioned offices around the district don't want to get sued by the parents of some poor kid that faints and has a seizure in the ridiculous heat of a classroom. I always hear about the importance of putting kids first and making the needs of the students a number-one priority, so why doesn't someone with enough power to change things either air-condition all the schools or not start school until the temperatures have dropped to tolerable levels?

"Of course there are many steps a person might choose to take to reduce the risk of heat stress, such as moving to a cooler place, reducing physical activity, or wearing loose and light clothing."

Okay, let's check that. Can we just choose to get up and leave our sweltering classrooms to move to a cooler place? Not unless we want to get sent to the office...which, now that I think about it, might not be a bad idea because the office is air-conditioned. Has anyone else noticed that it is so cool in the office that the secretaries wear sweaters all day? Why is it that the only places in the school that have working air-conditioning (the main office and the counseling center) are the places where most students never go? As far as reducing physical activity, that one isn't too hard because by fourth period most classrooms are so hot that many students actually begin to doze off. It's hard to move much in an environment more suitable for desert reptiles than human beings. And how 'bout all the flies circling in those rooms nearest the doors! I feel like vulture meat for the last three periods of every day! Wearing loose and light clothing would be a simpler option if not for the dress code, which seems to be most strictly enforced by those who do not spend their days in hot classrooms.

"Some heat disorders you should be aware of and know the warning signs." (The fact that they even feel compelled to share this information because they know they are endangering our health is one thing, but this isn't even a sentence!)

"Heat Stroke: A MEDICAL EMERGENCY: Sweating stops, mental confusion, convulsions, body temperature of 106 degrees, hot dry skin which may be red, mottled, or bluish. This is life threatening if not promptly treated. Call 911, and soak their clothing in cool water. Fanning will increase the cooling."

This is a junior high school, not a desert outpost in the sands of Saudi Arabia! The fact that they know the heat in classrooms could be "life threatening" and yet they still force us to go there is bad enough, but their solution (sending a memo) is crazy! Can you just picture teachers dousing unconscious students with cool water while other students stand around with makeshift fans trying to "increase the cooling" while waiting for the ambulance to arrive? Does this strike anyone else as ridiculous?

"Heat exhaustion: Results from loss of fluid through sweating. The skin is clammy and moist, skin pale or flushed, normal body temperature or slightly higher. Move person to a cool place and drink an electrolyte solution. (Gator-aid). Water is better than nothing."

How many teachers do you know that allow "(Gator-aid)." [That's not a sentence either!] in their classrooms? Do you think the school is keeping a supply of it on hand? I think most teachers have said we can bring bottled water, so I guess that's "better than nothing." (It makes me feel so loved!) The symptoms listed here seem to describe practically all the students in the school. I don't know about you, but my skin is clammy and moist by the time third period starts, and I'm pretty sure my body temperature is way higher than normal. In classrooms with no circulating air, I practically drip sweat! I mean I am makin' my own gravy! It's sick and wrong! And this one teacher (whose name I won't mention because I like him) is going to earn the nickname "Professor Pitstain" if he doesn't learn to keep his arms at his sides when it's 90+ in his room. Maybe we should just all descend on the office (a "cooler place") complaining of heat exhaustion. They couldn't send us back to class because it would make them look so bad if one of us actually dropped dead (or fainted) from the heat. We could have a sit-in! We deserve to be treated at least as well as the principals and superintendents because without us, none of them would have jobs, right?

Let's face facts: When the school is as hot as it has been lately, no education is taking place. Students are too uncomfortable and angry to learn much.

Here's an article from, get this, Hawaii. Notice that they expect classrooms to hit 89 degrees! Woo-hoo! That's at least a few degrees cooler than what we have here...and that is Hawaii, a tropical island with beaches! Notice also that they have a schedule to air-condition all the schools. I wonder if such a schedule exists here. I doubt it.

Or check out this video! These guys are cancelling class because of the heat, and the principal says that it's almost impossible to learn in such an environment. And they aren't as hot as we are!

Here's an article called "Hot Classrooms Stifle Learning." These schools send kids home early when the classrooms are hot.

I wish our teachers would do this! (The temperatures listed in the article are in Celsius degrees, not Fahrenheit. That's why they seem so low. It's a British school.)

So why do we put up with it? Why do parents not complain? Why don't we revolt? Is there any other institution in our society where decent people are forced to go and endure what the district admits is potentially life threatening discomfort?

The reason nothing changes is because the heat will subside in a few weeks, and we have a short memory. Next year, some of us may be fortunate enough to attend one of the new high schools that have air-conditioning, and we will leave the poor pathetic junior high kids to suffer in our place. But maybe the world would be a better place (and certainly a more comfortable one) if we made a stand.

Who's with me?