High temperatures in Rosemont Elementary School classrooms are cause for concern for some parents.
Janelle Feltham’s son Jace is a student at Rosemont. Allegedly teachers in the school have been taking measurements of the temperature inside the school, and at one point Jace’s classroom reached a high of 31 degrees.
Worried for her son’s health, she has kept him at home for seven days total due to the heat.
Feltham contacted the Regina Public Schools to complain about the classroom conditions.
"Unfortunately, given the current high temperatures outside, the temperature in many of our classrooms is higher than we would like,” the school board said in a statement. "Hopefully, there will be a break in the weather soon."
But for Feltham, that was not an acceptable response from the board.
"Well that’s not really adequate enough. I’m sure this is not the first year that we've had temperatures like this and situations like this and it’s not going to be the last. So there needs to be some sort of protocol in place to prevent this,” Feltham said.
Regina Public Schools says that it has done everything within its capacity to help mitigate the problem, including adding more blinds and fans.
"Our schools were not originally designed with air conditioning in mind; our school was designed number of decades ago when air conditioners weren't normally put in buildings so we are trying to accommodate a good learning environment for students," said Terry Lazarou from Regina Public Schools.
A new study conducted by The National Bureau of Economic Research reviewed test scores of more than 10 million United States students over a 13-year period and compared them with temperature reports. The research found that hot classrooms make it harder for students to learn, and affect academic performance.
As for Feltham, she says that she will continue to keep her son at home on the hot days for the rest of the school year.
Based on a report by Madina Azizi
