Several times a year, a heat wave rolls through the East Bay, leaving hundreds of Oakland classrooms sweltering.
In aging buildings, which mostly lack adequate cooling systems, teachers have tried all sorts of creative ways to keep their students and their classrooms cool. At Sequoia Elementary School, Susan Chiodo once dipped bandanas in icy water for her third graders to put on their foreheads and necks. Minutes later, they all had droplets of colored water, leaching dye from the bandanas, running down their faces. Kindergarten teacher Natasha Saleski keeps a spray bottle to mist students who get overheated on toasty days at Manzanita SEED Elementary School.
Some teachers have purchased blackout curtains, some crack their windows overnight, and others keep popsicles stocked to help students cool off. But those fixes have a limited effect on what is a districtwide infrastructure problem. More than 75% of schools’ indoor space — roughly 2,100 classrooms — lack cooling systems…