Windows recently installed at Ridgely Middle School open 30 degrees inward compared with windows previously used that opened 90 degrees outward. Without air conditioning, classrooms get overly hot, parents say.
New windows no opportunity
Without air conditioning, Ridgely Middle classrooms stay hot
By Virginia Terhune
Posted 7/03/08
Recent upgrades to Ridgely Middle school in Timonium include air conditioning of a sort — new windows and upgrades that will permit air conditioning when the budget allows.
But without the $900,000 needed to install chillers that make full air conditioning possible, the students roast on hot days, parents say.
According to parents, a big part of the problem is that the new windows, which cost $2.7 million, open 30 degrees inward, reducing airflow, while the old ones opened 90 degrees outward.
School officials, however, say that there are more windows that open now, actually increasing the amount of air flowing into classrooms.
Rising temperatures last fall sent students and teachers to the nurse with complaints of headaches, nausea and dizziness, according to Julie Sugar, outgoing president of the Ridgely parent teachers association.
On Oct. 10, parents say they recorded a reading of 90 degrees in a second-floor classroom when it was 80 degrees outside.
This spring, on June 9, they recorded a classroom temperature of 96 degrees.
“It’s much prettier, but it’s also much hotter,” said Sugar, who along with other parents cites research that shows the negative effect of excessively hot classrooms on student health and learning.
Meanwhile, students are not allowed to bring water bottles into classrooms, said seventh-grader Haley Mullen at a school board meeting June 10. And the school system has not provided fans, according to Sugar.
About half the 171 schools in Baltimore County are fully air-conditioned, according to Michael Sines, facilities director for the school system.
Some of the county’s other schools are partially air-conditioned in areas such as computer labs, gyms and administrative offices, he said.
The Ridgely Middle renovation project included upgrades that will enable school-wide air conditioning when budgets allow. Upgrades include ventilators in each classroom to process hot and cold air and energy-efficient windows with tighter seals.
The $14 million renovation included new ceilings, lights, windows and doors.
“The bathrooms have been updated, and the school looks much brighter now inside.,” Sugar said.
The problem right now is that the school budget for the fiscal year ending July 2009 does not include that $900,000 for the chillers to make the air-conditioning system operational, parents say.
That means that in the interim, classrooms must rely on uncooled air coming through the new ventilators when the windows are shut, which critics say can be noisy and don’t bring in enough air.
Or student and teachers must rely, as before, on air coming through the open windows, which now open only 30 degrees inward.
Combined with lower ceilings, the new system has resulted in less ventilation and more heat, according to parents.
“While Ridgely has always been uncomfortable on hot days because it has never been air-conditioned, t he recent renovation has turned an uncomfortable environment into an unmanageable one,” according to Sugar and other PTA officers in a letter enclosed in a booklet of information given to school board members June 10.
Sines agreed that the new windows don’t open as wide as the previous ones, partly for safety reasons so that students don’t bump into sharp corners.
But he also said that there are more windows that open now than before, resulting overall in more — not less — air flowing into classrooms.
The window installation also meets codes that require certain ratios between window size and classroom size, he said.
“Maybe the technical books tell you why it shouldn’t be so much hotter, but it is hotter, with temperatures in the 90s,” Sugar said.
Because of complaints from parents, Sines met with PTA representatives and state Sen. Jim Brochin at Ridgely Middle on June 5.
“It was stifling hot in there,” Brochin said. “I can’t imagine any kid can concentrate on learning anything.”
Brochin said some of the new windows now opening into the classroom are blocked from fully opening by support posts.
He asked a school official to arrange a meeting with the window manufacturer about finding ways to increase air flow.
“Tax dollars support school construction, and I believe at that school that we’ve wasted school construction money,” said Brochin, who is also concerned about plans to replace windows at Hampton Elementary in Lutherville.
School response
Sines said he began tracking temperatures at Ridgely Middle in the spring and is now doing the same at four other schools. He declined to identify the schools, except to say that there is a school for each of the system’s five administrative districts.
Sines also said a final report is pending on whether the air distribution system at Ridgely Middle is working correctly.
“The project’s not closed out yet,” he said.
Sines said there were good reasons for installing the new windows, which have double panes and reflective metal panels that help maintain consistent indoor temperatures.
A new insulated roof, expected to cost $2 million and planned for the future, should also help modulate temperatures.
“We view this as an extremely successful program,” he said.
Ridgely Middle is not the only school in the county complaining recently about hot classrooms.
Half a dozen students, parents and teachers from Hebbville Elementary in Windsor Mill asked the school board to budget for air conditioning during the board’s May 21 public hearing on the proposed fiscal 2010 capital budget.
System priorities
Sines said the reason Ridgely Middle and other schools are not fully air-conditioned is because the current policy is to install air conditioning only in new construction because of other capital needs.
In the late 1990s, consultants Perks Reutter Associates of Philadelphia concluded the county’s aging school buildings needed major upgrades to plumbing and electrical systems, windows, roofs and boilers.
“The average age of the buildings was 40 years old,” Sines said.
The system’s priority since then has been to systematically address the most critical infrastructure needs.
“We had to delay projects that were not deemed essential for the operations of the schools,” said school spokesman Charles Herndon.
Almost 10 years later, Baltimore County has nearly finished renovating elementary schools and 18 middle schools, Sines said.
Next year, the focus will shift to the high schools.
“We’re going to spend another half billion to do the high schools and protect the investment (in work done already),” he said.
I think that the fact that we’re having a conversation about air conditioning highlights the success of the program,” Sines said.
“We don’t have windows that are boarded up. We’re not using a mop and a bucket to clean up water that has come through the walls.”
But without the $900,000 needed to install chillers that make full air conditioning possible, the students roast on hot days, parents say.
According to parents, a big part of the problem is that the new windows, which cost $2.7 million, open 30 degrees inward, reducing airflow, while the old ones opened 90 degrees outward.
School officials, however, say that there are more windows that open now, actually increasing the amount of air flowing into classrooms.
Rising temperatures last fall sent students and teachers to the nurse with complaints of headaches, nausea and dizziness, according to Julie Sugar, outgoing president of the Ridgely parent teachers association.
On Oct. 10, parents say they recorded a reading of 90 degrees in a second-floor classroom when it was 80 degrees outside.
This spring, on June 9, they recorded a classroom temperature of 96 degrees.
“It’s much prettier, but it’s also much hotter,” said Sugar, who along with other parents cites research that shows the negative effect of excessively hot classrooms on student health and learning.
Meanwhile, students are not allowed to bring water bottles into classrooms, said seventh-grader Haley Mullen at a school board meeting June 10. And the school system has not provided fans, according to Sugar.
About half the 171 schools in Baltimore County are fully air-conditioned, according to Michael Sines, facilities director for the school system.
Some of the county’s other schools are partially air-conditioned in areas such as computer labs, gyms and administrative offices, he said.
The Ridgely Middle renovation project included upgrades that will enable school-wide air conditioning when budgets allow. Upgrades include ventilators in each classroom to process hot and cold air and energy-efficient windows with tighter seals.
The $14 million renovation included new ceilings, lights, windows and doors.
“The bathrooms have been updated, and the school looks much brighter now inside.,” Sugar said.
The problem right now is that the school budget for the fiscal year ending July 2009 does not include that $900,000 for the chillers to make the air-conditioning system operational, parents say.
That means that in the interim, classrooms must rely on uncooled air coming through the new ventilators when the windows are shut, which critics say can be noisy and don’t bring in enough air.
Or student and teachers must rely, as before, on air coming through the open windows, which now open only 30 degrees inward.
Combined with lower ceilings, the new system has resulted in less ventilation and more heat, according to parents.
“While Ridgely has always been uncomfortable on hot days because it has never been air-conditioned, t he recent renovation has turned an uncomfortable environment into an unmanageable one,” according to Sugar and other PTA officers in a letter enclosed in a booklet of information given to school board members June 10.
Sines agreed that the new windows don’t open as wide as the previous ones, partly for safety reasons so that students don’t bump into sharp corners.
But he also said that there are more windows that open now than before, resulting overall in more — not less — air flowing into classrooms.
The window installation also meets codes that require certain ratios between window size and classroom size, he said.
“Maybe the technical books tell you why it shouldn’t be so much hotter, but it is hotter, with temperatures in the 90s,” Sugar said.
Because of complaints from parents, Sines met with PTA representatives and state Sen. Jim Brochin at Ridgely Middle on June 5.
“It was stifling hot in there,” Brochin said. “I can’t imagine any kid can concentrate on learning anything.”
Brochin said some of the new windows now opening into the classroom are blocked from fully opening by support posts.
He asked a school official to arrange a meeting with the window manufacturer about finding ways to increase air flow.
“Tax dollars support school construction, and I believe at that school that we’ve wasted school construction money,” said Brochin, who is also concerned about plans to replace windows at Hampton Elementary in Lutherville.
School response
Sines said he began tracking temperatures at Ridgely Middle in the spring and is now doing the same at four other schools. He declined to identify the schools, except to say that there is a school for each of the system’s five administrative districts.
Sines also said a final report is pending on whether the air distribution system at Ridgely Middle is working correctly.
“The project’s not closed out yet,” he said.
Sines said there were good reasons for installing the new windows, which have double panes and reflective metal panels that help maintain consistent indoor temperatures.
A new insulated roof, expected to cost $2 million and planned for the future, should also help modulate temperatures.
“We view this as an extremely successful program,” he said.
Ridgely Middle is not the only school in the county complaining recently about hot classrooms.
Half a dozen students, parents and teachers from Hebbville Elementary in Windsor Mill asked the school board to budget for air conditioning during the board’s May 21 public hearing on the proposed fiscal 2010 capital budget.
System priorities
Sines said the reason Ridgely Middle and other schools are not fully air-conditioned is because the current policy is to install air conditioning only in new construction because of other capital needs.
In the late 1990s, consultants Perks Reutter Associates of Philadelphia concluded the county’s aging school buildings needed major upgrades to plumbing and electrical systems, windows, roofs and boilers.
“The average age of the buildings was 40 years old,” Sines said.
The system’s priority since then has been to systematically address the most critical infrastructure needs.
“We had to delay projects that were not deemed essential for the operations of the schools,” said school spokesman Charles Herndon.
Almost 10 years later, Baltimore County has nearly finished renovating elementary schools and 18 middle schools, Sines said.
Next year, the focus will shift to the high schools.
“We’re going to spend another half billion to do the high schools and protect the investment (in work done already),” he said.
I think that the fact that we’re having a conversation about air conditioning highlights the success of the program,” Sines said.
“We don’t have windows that are boarded up. We’re not using a mop and a bucket to clean up water that has come through the walls.”
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