With the advent of warmer spring weather, it is time to complain about the sweating season because most of our school does not contain air conditioning.

Every school should be fully supplied with air conditioning. Studies show that most schools in the Northeast do not have air conditioning, and that’s wrong.

Air conditioning helps us in so many ways, and without it there are so many more complications. Imagine being a teacher who has a class of students that are complaining about the temperature in the classroom instead of paying attention to the lesson.

According to the R and M Mechanical website, a heating health ventilation and air conditioning blog, studies have shown that children’s performance will decline in warmer temperatures. In hotter classrooms, headaches and heat exhaustion symptoms develop. This distracts the students from their work.  Students need a comfortable learning environment for their full testing potential.     

Air conditioners also provide comfort to the students and staff. Feeling disgusting while trying to pay attention in class or trying to take an important test is too distracting. A study of 4.5 million New York City high school exit exam scores determined that higher classroom temperatures created a 12.3% higher likelihood of failing a subject exam and a 2.5% lower likelihood of graduating on time, according to Air Group, an air conditioning company.

            One reason for poor performance is because mistakes increase in an overheated environment. In a hot classroom, problem-solving skills are performed poorly. 

         Air conditioners reduce humidity and lower the amounts of pollen, mold, mildew and other airborne outdoor allergens that potentially lead to asthma symptoms. Air conditioners also lower exposure to indoor allergens like dust mites, according to the Cleveland Clinic hospital website.

School boards  might say that it is too expensive to purchase air conditioning for an entire school building, but it would be less expensive to install air conditioning all at one time throughout a building rather than slowly over time, according to the web site of Texas-based Monolithic Dome Institute.Yes, it is expensive to supply a whole building, but more important is the well-being of the budget and the health of the people in the school. Those factors should not be overlooked.

Schools need to be fully air conditioned and that is that. There should not be an argument about this. It is clear that students are not comfortable with the lack of air conditioning in their schools. Every school building needs to  be fully air conditioned as soon as possible.