"The kids and I are struggling." MCPS teacher asks to borrow portable air conditioner on social media. @mocoboe @mcps can't provide well ventilated, cooled classrooms?

In search of a portable air conditioner to use in my classroom.

I am an MCPS elementary school teacher. The building has not switched over to AC yet and even when it’s on, my wing of the building is h.o.t.

The kids and I are struggling...

I would only need to borrow one until the end of the school year. Please and thank you!!!

List of Schools without Air Conditioning Today

Sorry, this list is for Baltimore City Public Schools. 

Montgomery County Public Schools doesn't believe in putting out this kind of basic information about their buildings.  

The Parents' Coalition has received reports of MCPS school buildings without air conditioning today including McNair Elementary and Poolesville Elementary Schools.  But that's only a partial list based on information we have received.  The full list of schools with air conditioning issues is not available. 

 

Schools without air-conditioning

LAST UPDATED: June 13, 2022

The schools listed below will close or have early dismissal on extremely hot days, or that feel warmer due to a combination of heat and humidity. Schools not listed below have air-conditioning (but may dismiss early, if their systems require repair that cannot be completed within one day).

To find your school's dismissal time, please visit the school's profile page.

• Baltimore City College
• Benjamin Franklin High School at Masonville Cove
• City Springs Elementary/Middle School
• Collington Square Elementary/Middle School
• Cross Country Elementary/Middle School
• Curtis Bay Elementary/Middle School
• Elementary Middle Alternative Program @ PDC
• Eutaw-Marshburn Elementary School
• Franklin Square Elementary/Middle School
• Furley Elementary School
• Harlem Park Elementary/Middle School
• Johnston Square Elementary School
• Montebello Elementary/Middle School @ PDC
• National Academy Foundation
• New Era Academy
• Vanguard Collegiate Middle School
• Yorkwood Elementary School
• The Mount Washington School (lower building)

Schools with air conditioning that is currently under repair and will close or have early dismissal on extremely hot days:

• Academy for College and Career Exploration 
• Calvin M. Rodwell Elementary/Middle School 
• Dr. Bernard Harris, Sr., Elementary School 
• Garrett Heights Elementary/Middle School
• George Washington Elementary School
• George W.F. McMechen High School
• Independence School Local I High School
• North Bend Elementary/Middle School 
• Pimlico Elementary/Middle School 
• Sandtown-Winchester Achievement Academy 
• Tench Tilghman Elementary/Middle School
• Westport Academy 
• Midtown Academy (building not owned by City Schools)
• Youth Opportunity (building not owned by City Schools)

City Schools does not plan to install air-conditioning for these schools and alternative programs, because their buildings are not owned by the district:

• Empowerment Academy

Educator Abuse: Why Leaving Teaching Was Similar to Leaving My Abusive Marriage #mcps #mocoboe

After resigning from my teaching position last month, I felt very much the same way I did when I frantically packed a bag of essentials and escaped my abusive marriage. At both of these times, I was immersed in a dense fog which made things right in front of me strategically unclear. I was unsure that leaving was the right decision, and I was fearful that I would be unable to find my way on my own. In my mind, it was entirely possible that the problem actually was me and not the toxic behavior I had been subjected to on a daily basis. In both scenarios, I was codependent and in love. When you’re in an abusive relationship of any kind, whether it’s with a person or a job, it’s easy to fall victim to the endless gaslighting you experience and accept a multitude of untruths as reality...

...They are told to wait for yet another month or two to be paid for the required summer training they completed and to risk themselves and their young, unvaccinated children to return to the building during a pandemic. They become burnt out and beaten down by unsustainable expectations and lack of support.

It is then that an exodus seems imminent. 

Union representatives call for their members to organize and take action. It’s brought to public attention that educational staff are being taken advantage of, lied to, disrespected, and hurt. Speeches are made at Board of Education meetings. Educators take to the streets and to social media...

...Somehow, the final straw wasn’t when I was given all five of my teaching periods in a row, leaving me without a bathroom break for nearly five straight hours.

• It wasn’t when the light bulb on my Promethean board burnt out and wasn’t replaced for at least four months, resulting in my students, many of whom had special ed accommodations, going without visual aids for a good portion of the school year.

• It wasn’t when I was advised to put my personal values aside and pass students on to the next grade or graduation even if they had not demonstrated mastery of basic skills.

• It wasn’t when I was blamed for those students’ failure by being told year after year that it was my responsibility and my responsibility alone to get them to pass.

• It wasn’t when I had to constantly beg for more than 3 years for an air conditioner and space heater to be placed in my classroom so that I would stop fainting from the heat and developing painful sores from the cold...

• It wasn’t even when my ADA accommodations were denied and I was told to return to the classroom despite my doctor’s letter stating the very high risk of my becoming permanently disabled if exposed to the COVID-19 virus...

..This was the case when the school system failed to offer their majority-female staff paid maternity leave; in order to assist its impacted members, the union worked to develop a system in which teachers could “donate” their unused sick days to fellow staff members in need. It was the case when I fainted from overheating in my classroom for the fourth or fifth time and a close friend took it upon herself to track down a window AC unit to install. Similarly, when ADA accommodations were denied to countless teachers during the pandemic, empathetic colleagues stepped in to cover their classes so that at-risk teachers could remain safely virtual. And when the county failed to secure COVID-19 vaccinations for their staff prior to forcing a return to the buildings, many teachers joined a large network of “vaccine hunting” volunteers who stayed up late into the night and woke before sunrise to obsessively refresh pharmacy and massvax web pages in order to score appointments for unvaccinated staff...

 ...If they leave mid-year for any reason, they risk having their teaching license revoked.  When they call HR for help, they have their future job prospects and livelihood threatened...

https://theeducatorsroom.com/educator-abuse-why-leaving-teaching-was-similar-to-leaving-my-abusive-marriage/?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=socialnetwork&fbclid=IwAR3j1Mx6pILOKM-O98zaFrtI8XFbwgJP0q7xYthaPqp3_yjkN3I_pylXulc

Heat Causes Air Conditioning Outages at Some MCPS Schools

...The air conditioning at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda has been malfunctioning since the summer, Principal Robert Dodd said Thursday. Dodd said HVAC crews had repaired most of the school’s air conditioning by Thursday afternoon, but a few rooms remained to be fixed.

“One day a room is working and then the next day it’s not working,” he said. “The third floor of the building we’ve had issues, and then behind the building we have [the former] Whittier Woods Elementary where we use some classrooms, and that’s not been completely fixed.”

Dodd said assistant principals have been walking around the school to check the temperature in certain rooms throughout the week. He said classes have moved to better-cooled rooms when necessary, and he knows of only one student who has gone home sick because of the heat.

Turner said the only school that has had to dismiss early due to heat-related issues was Brookhaven Elementary School in Rockville, which closed early on Tuesday. Baltimore County, Baltimore City and Prince George’s County Public Schools have all dismissed at least some of their schools early this week due to extreme heat. Baltimore County schools do not have air conditioning, and Prince George’s schools do, but 40 schools were having problems with their systems, according to The Washington Post.

Unlike those other school systems, MCPS likely would not dismiss students systemwide in the event of extreme heat, Turner said. The protocol, he said, varies by school and by how widespread the lack of air conditioning is...

https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/schools/heat-causes-air-conditioning-outages-at-some-mcps-schools/

Franchot, Hogan melt down over air conditioning but blame different culprits

ANNAPOLIS — Two of Maryland’s top elected officials blasted two school systems for a lack of air conditioning in some classrooms that has resulted in heat-related early dismissals and school closings for the second time since classes resumed this week.

The heated words, or hot air to some critical of Gov. Larry Hogan and Comptroller Peter Franchot, dominated much of Wednesday’s Board of Public Works meeting and is quickly becoming an issue in the 2018 campaign. Franchot fired back at some who say this is just an election-year issue, blaming members of his own party in the state legislature for freezing efforts to provide climate control in classrooms in Baltimore City and Baltimore County...

...Hogan blasted city school officials for breaking their word and not repairing or installing air conditioning at schools that were closed early this week after promising to do so.

“It’s not a false narrative,” said Hogan, who at one point held up transcripts of early board meetings. “They’re facts. They’re on the record in their own words.”...

...“One of the problems that is quite real is that the city, unfortunately, does not have the resources that Montgomery County or Baltimore County have to put into their share,” said Kopp. “That adds up and that makes a difference.”...

https://thedailyrecord.com/2018/09/05/franchot-melts-down-over-air-conditioning-blames-md-legislature/

AC fight heats up as students head back to class

...The topic is the still-sweltering summer temperatures and a newly-adopted heat closing policy that seeks to offer relief to students and staff in schools awaiting their turn to receive air conditioning.
Currently, at least 35 of 173 county public schools are without air conditioning, including eight in Dundalk (Battle Grove, Bear Creek, Berkshire, Charlesmont, Colgate, Dundalk and Grange elementary schools and Patapsco High School and Center for the Arts.)...

 http://www.dundalkeagle.com/spotlight/ac-fight-heats-up-as-students-head-back-to-class/article_a346f7f2-92e8-5804-bf08-2e1d5fc7d33c.html#utm_source=dundalkeagle.com&utm_campaign=%2Fnewsletters%2Fall%2Fheadlines%2F&utm_medium=email&utm_content=headline

Baltimore County school board OKs heat closure policy

A new policy in Baltimore County requires non-air conditioned public schools to close when the heat index reaches 90 degrees.
Media outlets report the Baltimore County Public Schools Board of Education passed the policy Tuesday, which directs the superintendent to close the affected schools if the heat index is forecast to reach 90 degrees by 11 a.m. When possible, the closure should be announced by 8 p.m. the preceding night...

 http://thedailyrecord.com/2016/08/10/baltimore-county-schools-approves-heat-closure-policy/

Kennedy High School Air Conditioning at 50% for Summer School

It was a bad day to be holed up in a building with a faltering air conditioner, but students and staff at John F. Kennedy High School in Silver Spring braved summer school classes that way despite Monday’s severe heat.
Montgomery school officials said Kennedy’s air conditioning was operating at about 50 percent, with crews working to make repairs.
Temperatures in some classrooms climbed as high as 84 degrees, but many rooms remained at the normal temperature of 76 degrees, said spokeswoman Gboyinde Onijala. The summer school day went on as scheduled, ending about 1 p.m., she said...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/bad-day-for-summer-school-air-conditioning-falters-as-temperatures-soar/2016/07/25/9ca6f9d0-529e-11e6-b7de-dfe509430c39_story.html#comments

Hogan and Franchot take an 'astonishing' step

The obsession with window air conditioning in Baltimore county and city public schools by Comptroller Peter Franchot, joined of late by Gov. Larry Hogan, is no longer amusing. On Wednesday, their heavy-handed tactics to force local officials to immediately install window units in some 4,000 classrooms went beyond political grandstanding into the realm of doing real damage to students and to a system of making hard choices on how to allocate limited funds that has long served the state well. The governor and comptroller decided to hold back $10 million to renovate county schools and $5 million for city schools unless city and county officials do something that is probably impossible, possibly illegal and certainly fiscally wasteful. In the process, they disrespected the Baltimore County superintendent, smeared the integrity of the attorney general and his staff, bullied the treasurer and prompted the man who has guided the state's school construction program for 13 years to resign. It was ugly, unbecoming and ultimately unproductive...

 http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/editorial/bs-ed-air-conditioning-20160512-story.html