Columbus students finally get to keep their cool
Sheila Evans COLUMBUS — is wearing long-sleeve shirts to school for the first time in her 21 years as a Columbus City Schools employee.
Now in her second year as Sherwood Middle School principal, Evans said she and her students are still getting used to the upgrades made in their 54-year-old building on the East Side. She has never worked in air conditioning before.
“It’s so nice, to the point where we get cold,” joked Evans, who said many buildings were “unbearable” this time last year.
In the past two years, Columbus City Schools has completed 155 maintenance projects through Operation: Fix It, a $125 million, districtwide initiative funded by a portion of a tax increase voters approved in 2016.
For many buildings, including nine this fall, that means having air conditioning for the first time.
Throughout the state’s largest school district, which has more than 51,000 students, 31 buildings are without the amenity found in virtually all modern workplaces but still lacking in many urban schools nationwide. Of those buildings, 21 have partial air conditioning in common areas such as cafeterias and libraries.
Research has shown sweltering heat negatively affects student learning and numerous studies have linked the quality of school facilities, including classroom temperatures, to student achievement.
Though $125 million may sound like a lot of money, Columbus officials and experts agree the investment is small compared to what is needed.
Once Operation: Fix It is completed, 13 buildings still won’t be fully air-conditioned. A future facilities plan, requiring more funding, will address those issues, hopefully with replacement buildings, said Alex Trevino, the district’s director of capital improvements.
“We’re trying to make the buildings as livable as we can,” Trevino said.
Through Friday, high temperatures in Columbus are expected to be in the high 80s and low 90s, according to the National Weather Service.
Such problems aren’t isolated to Columbus, but do disproportionately affect students in urban districts, said Mary Filardo, executive director of the 21st Century School Fund, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit group that advocates for better facilities.
“To a large extent, the public has blamed districts and not joined with them,” Filardo said, “and the districts, rather than publicly saying ‘we need you to help us,’ tend to want to hide their problems.”
Officials at virtually all of central Ohio’s suburban districts told The Dispatch they have fully air-conditioned buildings. Even South-Western City Schools, which doesn’t yet, will in a few years, spokeswoman Sandy Nekoloff said. Last year, voters approved a bond issue to renovate the last elementary school without air conditioning, which will be will be added next summer, and begin the process of replacing the district’s four oldest middle schools.
But such improvements don’t come cheap, especially in aging facilities, officials say.
Rick Savors, spokesman for the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission, a state agency that helps districts with construction projects, said it estimated in 2018 that a new HVAC system costs about $26 per square foot, but that didn’t include duct work, electricity, design or labor costs.
That’s why Columbus prioritized renovating buildings more likely to stay in use, Trevino said.
Columbus Alternative High School in North Linden, for example, which likely will need to be replaced soon, received air conditioning in just the cafeteria and library, he said.
Last week, Trevino showed off systems installed last year throughout Sherwood’s classrooms and cafeteria. They’re large, exposed units attached to the ceiling, which prioritize functionality, not appearance, he said.
Altogether, 390 projects are planned as part of Operation: Fix It for legacy buildings, ranging from 40 to 100 years old.
Improvements will be made to 65 of the district’s 110 schools — 37 elementary, 13 middle and 15 high — through 2021, upgrading roofing, electricity, plumbing, fire equipment, asphalt, HVAC and entrance security.
About $71 million of the $125 million are in contract, Trevino said.
But some people are growing impatient. Parents had asked about building conditions and air conditioning at recent Columbus Board of Education meetings, looking for faster action, or at least fans or windows in some classrooms.
On Aug. 20, board member Jennifer Adair, who said her daughter has suffered in the heat, agreed it’s a problem that must be addressed.
Clara LaVerne AlstonHooper, 74, a retired teacher, told board members she was appalled when she helped a teacher set up a classroom this year.
She said the “inhumane conditions” inevitably affect learning.
“Money has been set aside to send school board members whose terms expire at the end of the year on expensive trips. Money has been set aside to offer a generous salary to our new superintendent,” Alston-Hooper said. “Certainly, money can be set aside for the purchase of industrial fans.”
John Coneglio, Columbus Education Association president, said he understands officials are doing what they can with the funds and staff they have, but he also can’t ignore complaints from union members.
Today, because of safety and security concerns, buildings are kept buttoned up, unlike when they were built, when doors were left open for all-day ventilation, Coneglio said.
That requires speedier solutions, not a “Band-Aid approach,” he said. The union has advocated for the board to take a stance against the Columbus City Council providing tax abatements to corporations, and Coneglio said those redirected school taxes could help with improvements.
“We give away money to corporations to build fine, brand new buildings, but what about the kids? Don’t they deserve that?” Coneglio asked. “This is our community, and we all need to be pushing the cart together.”