Schools Panel Urges Room Air Conditioners : Education: In the effort to cool year-round classrooms, window units are considered as an alternative to more expensive central cooling.

A Los Angeles school board committee recommended Thursday installing window air conditioners at a handful of San Fernando Valley schools to see if the units will provide a low-cost alternative to central air-conditioning, which would cost an estimated $675 million to install at campuses citywide.

The pilot program--which must be approved by the full school board--could reduce air-conditioning costs by more than two-thirds, said Julie Crum, assistant director of maintenance for the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Officials estimate that it will cost about $90 million to install central air-conditioning at 61 year-round schools in the Valley, the area identified as having the highest temperatures in the city. Installing window air conditioners would cost an estimated $25 million.

“The question is whether the window units will be too noisy and whether they can cool off a room with 30 warm bodies,” Crum said.

The school board’s building committee also agreed to apply for $30 million of the $45 million in state bond money approved by voters in June to pay for air-conditioning year-round schools.

Parents representing schools in the Valley told building committee members that classrooms this past month have been too hot for their children to learn.

“It is terrible for the kids,” agreed school board member Julie Korenstein, who represents the West Valley.

District officials said it will take several years to install central air-conditioning at the more than 475 schools that will need such systems when the entire district converts to year-round scheduling next summer.

The year-round schedules were approved by the board earlier this year to make more classroom space available in the fast-growing district.

Some board members have suggested the district raise funds for air-conditioning and other improvements through a local bond measure in the next two years. A similar measure was narrowly defeated by Beverly Hills voters in June.