WOODLAND HILLS : 3-Year Drive Ends in Cool Relief at School
School will be much cooler next year at Lockhurst Drive Elementary, thanks to a three-year fund-raising drive by parents.
The parents raised nearly $70,000 for the purchase of air conditioners for 12 classrooms, the last of which is being installed this week, to protect their children from furnace-like conditions in the late summer and fall.
“It was unbelievably hot in the classrooms, sometimes 95 to 100 degrees,” said Lockhurst Drive Principal Ilene Meyers. “Kids would get nosebleeds, upset stomachs, crayons would melt in their hands. You couldn’t really have an instructional program.”
Three years ago, parents began raising money by holding weekly fund-raisers such as book fairs and T-shirt and bake sales, and by seeking donations from local businesses and organizations.
When the last unit is installed, all 17 of the classrooms used by the school will have air conditioners.
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