AIR CONDITIONING IN SCHOOLS?
Seems inevitable, Allison Hanes writes
The new school year is only in its second week, but for the second time already, Montreal is under a severe heat warning that is turning classrooms into saunas.
Shortly after noon Tuesday, the temperature climbed to 25 C. With the humidex, it felt more like 40 C. Wednesday is expected to be just as hot, if not hotter. It was the same scenario for the first part of last week, as well.
While many adults have the luxury of retreating to chilled offices, workplaces, retail outlets or vehicles, our kids and their teachers are forced to sweat it out in classrooms that feel more like steam rooms. Few Montreal schools are equipped with air conditioning, so students and staff have to tough out sweltering days like these with water bottles, fans and maybe some extra time outdoors. Some schools even relax their dress codes a little to help kids beat the heat.
In the past, it never made sense to put air conditioning in schools. The handful of times at the beginning and end of the year when the mercury soared high enough to make classrooms uncomfortable never seemed worth the cost and effort. Our school calendar is structured to shut down in the sizzling summer months. These early and late summer heat waves are supposed to be a temporary inconvenience.
But as our climate changes, so, too, does our consideration of what is a necessity when it comes to basic infrastructure.
Hot spells, like the one we are experiencing, could soon become more common — even in northern climates like Canada. Data made public earlier this year by the Prairie Climate Centre at the University of Winnipeg showed that Montreal could go from having about eight days a year where the thermometer rises above 30 C to about 24 a year in the near term and about 50 a year over a longer horizon.
Inevitably, more of those hot days may start to occur during the school year, requiring a response.
The consequences of a hotter city hit home tragically this summer, with more than 70 deaths across Quebec and upwards of 50 in Montreal during a heat wave in early July. Most of those who succumbed were vulnerable seniors who lived alone and had underlying health conditions.
But children, especially young ones, are susceptible to the effects of extreme heat, too. They tend to move and jump and run more than adults. And they don’t always listen to their bodies’ warning signs when it comes to dehydration and heat exhaustion. Educators can do their best to keep an eye out and remind them to rest or drink frequently, however the heat can get to them quickly.
My daughter came home from her first day of school with a headache and spent the following one in bed — hot, clammy, lethargic, nauseous and slightly delirious. Was this a bug she picked up on Day 1? Given how stuffy her school is and how warm it was on the first day back, it’s also within the realm of possibility she was suffering from heat exhaustion. It’s hard to tell, and she fortunately recovered quickly.
In Montreal especially, the unexpected heat and lack of air conditioning in schools are also exacerbated by other factors.
Across the province, schools are in disrepair. A recent government report found 55 per cent of primary schools and 47 per cent of high schools are in poor or very poor condition Quebec-wide. The situation is more pronounced in Montreal, where there are numerous heritage buildings that badly require upgrades. Poorly ventilated classrooms are, of course, all the more suffocating during periods of extreme heat.
As the government begins to reinvest in modernizing Quebec’s school infrastructure, it would be wise to ensure these efforts include measures to prepare for a hotter future. But it’s not just air conditioning.
Another area of concern is schoolyards. Many of those in Montreal are constructed of asphalt. In the central boroughs, in particular, there are few trees and little grass. Play areas resemble parking lots with more creative paint jobs. Asphalt schoolyards only intensify the heat on scorching days, offering no respite from the stifling conditions indoors.
Quebec’s public health department this weekend called for a strategy to combat the urban heat island effect in response to the dangers underscored by this summer’s hot weather.
The province’s paved schoolyards would certainly be a good place to start.
In this winter city, it would be unthinkable not to heat our schools. In a not-so-distant future, it may become just as unfathomable not to cool them.
Few Montreal schools are equipped with air conditioning, so students and staff have to tough out sweltering days like these.