During repairs to fix a broken central air conditioning system, a pipe burst, forcing Lehman Campus to evacuate on April 16. The morning evacuation on a breezy spring day with temperature in the 70s proved much easier than the last one in January when a bomb threat sent students and staff outside on icy streets in 20-degree weather.
Instead of shivering in the cold, Bronx River students soaked up the sun on the football field while waiting for the all clear. The culprit? In a week, when the temperature soared into the high 80s, the central air system shut down for two days. And during an attempt to correct the problem, a pipe burst, flooding the auditorium, which led to a school-wide evacuation.
As of April 17, the contractor hired by the School Construction Authority to redo the building’s heating and cooling systems reported that the central air was working again. That news couldn’t come soon enough for students and teachers who had been without air-conditioning during the unexpected April heat wave.
The Lehman campus, which has six schools, has exterior rooms with windows, which can be opened and also hold a window air-conditioner. The interior rooms, however, have no windows and rely on a central air conditioning system, which hasn’t always proven reliable.
Sabrina Groth, a biology teacher with an interior room, is fed up with the heat. “I feel like I’ve been about to pass out all day,’’ she said. “ My kids have been complaining too; they don’t even say hello to me anymore.”
On top of having no air conditioning, Ms. Groth says that her vents have only been blowing out hot air. “It is currently 83 degrees F, the legal limit is 82 degrees F and the school is supposed to do something once it gets past that point.”
Trista Norton, another science teacher who shares the room with Ms. Groth, is unhappy about the situation. “Our custodians work really hard, but it’s unacceptable when it’s reached this point,’’ she said.
“It makes it harder for students to work because they’re uncomfortable, and it’s harder for us to teach because they’re just talking about how uncomfortable they are.”
Andrea Bentoglio, a global 9 teacher who teaches in an interior room, is frustrated with the heat and feels bad for the students. “It’s one thing being in the hot room alone, but with 25 students it’s harder and takes a lot of energy,” he said.
His students have been stressed out, which stresses him out too. “The kids constantly complain; they have no energy and keep their heads down during class,” he said.
Counselors’ offices also are in interior rooms without windows. Jovani Almonte, the ninth grade counselor, says it’s overwhelmingly hot and impossible to get comfortable. “This morning I complained to [Stephanie] Decicco about the sweat constantly running down my back.”
Usually, students spend their lunches in the counselors office, but Mr. Almonte says that they haven’t been coming because of the heat. “They’d much rather hang out outside in the hallway or even near the staircase.”
The only other source of air in Almonte’s room is a small electrical fan, “I usually try to share the fan but it doesn’t spin around. We don’t have any windows in here, so there’s no fresh air either.”
Mr. Almonte believes that the situation would be different if there were windows, especially in the counselor’s office. The rooms with windows aren’t as affected as the counselors office and rooms like Biology and Global 9, which have nothing but small fans to defend against the heat.
