At a rally at Towson’s Patriot Plaza, County Councilman Kevin Kamenetz told a group of Ridgely Middle School parents that he has asked the county auditor to explore ways to find money in the budget for the installation of air conditioning at the Timonium school.

About 100 parents attended Tuesday’s rally, which was organized by the Friends of Ridgely Middle School, a group of parents demanding a solution to a heat problem at the school that they say is hampering students’ ability to learn and making some kids sick.

School system Superintendent Joe Hairston and County Executive Jim Smith were invited to attend the rally, organizers said. Neither attended and pictures of each were on empty chairs.

The school underwent a $14-million renovation a year ago. At that time, new energy-efficient windows — designed for buildings that are air conditioned — were installed. But a project to install chillers at the school was delayed because of budget constraints.

Parents say the building now lacks sufficient air flow and hot days outside are stifling and dangerous inside — with heat indexes that have been recorded at 105 degrees and above.

“They goofed,” Kamenetz said of the school system renovation.

Kamenetz told the gathering he has asked the auditor, who works for the council, to look for ways to fund the project. Some possible sources include federal stimulus money, grants for energy-efficient upgrades, and any surplus funds from other county projects that could be transferred to an air conditioning project at Ridgely Middle.

Estimates place the cost at about $1 million.

After the rally, Kamenetz said he believes federal dollars would be difficult to obtain. The best bet, he said, would be to find surplus money from existing county projects.

“This is a unique situation,” he said.

“The parents did not ask for air conditioning as part of the renovations,” Kamenetz added. “This situation was forced upon them.”

Don Mohler, a spokesman for Smith, said school officials have told the county they intend to address the issue, but could not say when that would take place.

Mohler said Smith is relying on reports from school system engineers who say airflow in the school has not been impaired by the renovations.

“The engineers say that the airflow in the current Ridgely Middle School exceeds the airflow in the old Ridgely Middle School,” Mohler said. “That’s what the engineers are telling (the school system). ... That’s what we have to rely on.”

Kamenetz said he disagreed with the school system engineers. During a tour of the school last June, he referred to several classrooms as saunas.

“My personal, internal sweat meter told me there was a problem,” Kamenetz said.

Parents and students maintain that the school system made a mistake and should fix it.

Hayley Mullen, 13, an eighth-grader at Ridgely Middle School, told the crowd that parents and teachers stress to students the importance of admitting to, and fixing, their mistakes.

“What lessons did Jim Smith and the Baltimore County Public Schools staff learn when they were young?” Mullen asked.

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user comments (3)

user davidmarks1 says...

I'm glad Councilman Kamenetz has taken a lead on this issue and does not consider air conditioning "trivial," as one of his colleagues has stated. Our students deserve healthy, comfortable schools. Lack of air conditioning is similar to what some of us have been saying about overcrowded schools; too often, the county's response is to similar erect trailers or build annexes that force children to walk outside in the snow and rain (also unhealthy). It's a shame the Smith administration did not invest more of the county's surpluses in the earlier years of this decade on school modernization and new buildings, but the next County Executive can commit to a robust program that brings all our schools to Twenty-First Century levels.

Posted 6:38 AM, 09.16.09

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user veggiegardener says...

If they would just install windows that actually opened enough to let in some air, maybe they wouldn't have had this problem going forward. Even the older schools that were built before AC get retrofitted with the "energy efficient" windows during renovation, and promptly become saunas if the AC isn't working. 21st century? Seems to me we're going backwards to the 1970's with these poor design choices.

Posted 2:23 PM, 09.16.09

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user towsonparent says...

It's clear Senator Brochin and Councilman Kamenetz are out in front in leadership on this issue. It's heartening to see lawmakers working to fix this problem for the students and teachers of Ridgely, despite the complete lack of action on the part of the County Executive and BCPS Superintendent. They have my vote!

Posted 4:16 PM, 09.16.09

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