Air Conditioning for Schoolrooms

It is incredibly frustrating for a parent of two children in the Los Angeles Unified School District to read your editorial “The New Meaning for the Term Melting Pot, “ (Feb. 23). For six years parents have made a ritual of going down to the school board to protest forcing unair-conditioned schools to alter their school calendar dramatically. Parents long have recognized that children cannot learn effectively in 100-degree temperature.

What always amazed us is that The Times and the majority of the school board could only focus on the issue of equity and felt what was bad for overcrowded schools should be shared uniformly by all children.

There is a transitional solution that school board member Julie Korenstein has proposed and that parents would be more receptive to accepting. Until all single-track schools have air conditioning, there should be a transitional calendar. Schools could begin two weeks later.

Starting school either Aug. 26 or Sept. 3 would cause minimal disruptions and have a tremendous amount of pluses. There would be two weeks less of school in the heat-intensive summer. Sports programs could continue on a more traditional calendar with only a four-week difference than the rest of the sporting community.

FRAN LYONS

Encino