Nearly 40 percent of schools in the United States were built before the 1970s, when temperatures were cooler and fewer buildings needed air conditioning.
Hot weather is not a new concern for school districts. But as the burning of fossil fuels heats the planet, it’s delivering longer-lasting, more dangerous heat waves, and higher average temperatures. Across much of the northern United States, where many schools were built without air conditioning, districts are now forced to confront the academic and health risks posed by poorly cooled schools.
A generation ago, few would have imagined that school districts from Denver to Boston would need to spend millions of dollars on cooling. Today, the reality is different.Dunbar Elementary in Philadelphia is one of the 67 schools in the district with inadequate cooling. The school was built in 1932 and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Today, roughly 30 percent of Philadelphia public schools don’t have fully air-conditioned classrooms, according to district officials. In interviews, teachers said many more buildings don’t have cooling in gyms, cafeterias and libraries. The district has made progress since that 2018 heat wave, thanks in large part to millions of dollars in federal pandemic aid and afrom Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts.
A photo of a thermometer in a Philadelphia elementary school classroom showing an indoor temperature of 91 degrees. The photo was taken during a heatwave that forced the district to release schools early.The temperature in an elementary school classroom in Philadelphia during a September 2023 heatwave. As hotter-than-normal temperatures become more common in the late spring and early fall, they pose a risk to students’ academic success.
The district installed window air conditioners at Robeson the next year, an experience that Workman said taught her the value of speaking out. When it comes to air conditioning in neighboring suburbs’ schools, she said, “It’s just something they have. Our fight isn’t their fight.”Webber Middle School, in Fort Collins, Colo. opened in 1990 without air conditioning. It will cost between $7 million and $10 million to retrofit the school.