CHATSWORTH : Parents Hope for Cash to Cool School

It was when the crayons started melting that parents of Chatsworth Park Elementary School students decided to take matters into their own hands.

Only four classrooms in the school have air conditioning, and there’s no money in the district budget to cool the rest. So a parent group has set out to raise an estimated $100,000 for air conditioning through a series of fund-raisers, including a carnival at the school Saturday.

Parents have long sought air conditioning in the school, said Irene Craft, but a new year-round school schedule has brought urgency to the issue.

“Now they start in August, when it’s so incredibly hot in Chatsworth,” she said. Craft said the parents want more air conditioning before August to avoid a repetition of last year’s discomfort, adding: “There were so many nosebleeds that happened, and headaches--the kids just get tired because it’s so draining.”

Chatsworth Park secretary Pauline Mooers said the school adopted a permanent hot-weather schedule last fall to cope with the heat. Students now attend class from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., instead of 8:30 a.m. to 2:20 p.m. Even so, stifling weather closed the school an hour early for about a week last summer.

“It’s awful,” Mooers said. “The teachers have spray bottles and go around spraying the kids.”

Julie Crum, deputy director of maintenance and operations for L.A. Unified School District, said the state has provided some funds to install air conditioning, but only for schools that have increased enrollment through year-round schedules. There is no money for schools such as Chatsworth Park, where enrollment has remained stable. About 46% of L.A. Unified’s classrooms are without air conditioning, she said.

Food booths, music, carnival games and raffles will be featured at Saturday’s fund-raising carnival, which will take place from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the Chatsworth Park grounds at 22005 Devonshire St.