“We the teachers are sweating, suffering from nausea. Some students are feeling faint.”
BY: ANDREW COLTON | Editor and Publisher
UPDATE: The Palm Beach County School District confirms that thermostats district-wide are actually set at 76 degrees. Maintenance, according to sources, is checking classrooms where teachers are reporting stifling conditions.
BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) — Teachers across Palm Beach County are asking BocaNewsNow.com for help after learning their thermostats have been locked at 74 degrees — a temperature that leads many classrooms to settle at real temperatures near 80. Teachers say the hot, humid air makes mask wearing dangerous for everyone in the classroom and is leading to sickness. A photo of a Highland elementary school thermostat (Lake Worth) as the school day starts Friday, October 2nd, shows a resting temperature of 77 degrees with 57 percent humidity.
A teacher, who we are not identifying but who is assigned to the school, said it’s dangerous.
”I teach in the [redacted] building and there are about 26 teachers in this two floor module,” said the educator to BcoaNewsNow.com. “I have 14 Brick and Motar students as well in my classroom. We the teachers are sweating, I am having stomach nausea, some of us have severe headaches.”
This teacher is not engaged in a campaign to stay home, telling BocaNewsNow.com that the goal is for the school district to lower the temperatures to a level that is sensible for South Florida schools in October, as outside temperatures are still in the upper 80s and 90s. We have received reports of similar thermostat issues at Calusa, Sunrise Park, Boynton Beach Elementary, and Omni Middle School.
”The children are complaining of the heat and are unable to stay focused,” the teacher tells BocaNewsNow.com. “Some children feel faint. The rooms feel humid. My classroom faces the south so the sun is on us most of the day. It feels stuffy, smelly and not a great situation with covid. The children as well as myself are not able to keep our masks on. This is a dire situation.”
Principals do not traditionally have access to the HVAC systems in the schools. Temperature and other changes require a school district maintenance professional to visit the campus.
A Palm Beach County School District representative told BocaNewsNow.com at 7:40 Friday morning that the issue is being investigated.
