Cool Supplies

After a two-year struggle to preserve the architectural integrity of a sleek local landmark, the last Los Angeles Unified school in the San Fernando Valley without air conditioning will finally get some relief--in another nine months.

Kester Avenue Elementary School was designed by modernist architect Richard Neutra. Fifty years ago, when Neutra had the choice of building a school on the Westside or Van Nuys, he chose the Valley because he knew how hot it could get and he was impressed by a grove of 200 walnut trees on the Sherman Oaks property where the school would be built.

The design helped set the trend for similar classrooms copied all over the state and the world. Neutra created the school with buildings one-classroom deep, with long, covered walkways with wood-paneled ceilings.

Believing classrooms should seem like living rooms that open onto patios, Neutra positioned expansive windows to allow cross-ventilation and keep temperatures down. In some classrooms, sliding walls allow even more air through. A large, grassy courtyard dotted with trees fills the center of campus, creating a cool, green oasis.

Although the school is noticeably cooler than most buildings in the Valley that lack air conditioning, even with the fans the district supplied the 31 non-air-conditioned classrooms, on really hot days it can become unbearable, students and teachers said.

But when the district began to install the first wall air conditioning units two years ago, the then-principal protested.

“There was an outcry because the school is an architectural landmark,” said Robert Collins, superintendent for District 3, which includes Kester. “The principal said the air conditioners that go into the windows would have destroyed the building’s architectural ambience. So we decided to go through the roof.”

The district redesigned plans twice to accommodate the historical building at a cost of $294,000, and a final plan was approved Sept. 7 that will conceal the air conditioning from view on the roof. Construction is scheduled to begin in mid-December; completion is slated for June 2001.

“This is the light at the end of the tunnel,” said Principal Sandi L. Barrett. “It’s a go. It’s going to take all year, but we’re going to have air conditioning.”

Richard Neutra’s son Dion, who is also an architect, said he would support the decision to place the equipment on the roof, depending on its ultimate appearance.

“I guess it just depends what it looks like,” he said. “At Orange Coast College they put the air conditioners on the roof, but it looked terrible, and now they are talking about taking it down.”

In the meantime, school will let out 40 minutes early today, as it did Thursday, for Kester’s 1,000 students, including 250 in the gifted magnet program, as temperatures again soared into the 90s. Barrett said students’ concentration deteriorated after lunch as the rooms heated up. School nurse Elaine Solmiano said the number of students visiting her office has doubled in recent days as children complain of headaches and bloody noses caused by the scorching heat.

Teachers adopted creative methods to keep their sweating students cool, including spraying them with spritzers, marching them in front of fans and keeping a water bottle on every desk.

In an effort to combat the heat, math teacher Nancy Jacobs said she keeps the lights off in her classroom, keeps her fans running and arrives at 6:30 a.m. to open the doors of her classroom to circulate air. After lunch, she gives students wet paper towels to place on the backs of their necks.

Teacher Patty Inouye keeps a bin of white washcloths, one for each student, in the classroom refrigerator. At the beginning of each class, she has them wipe their faces and parade in a slow circle before three classroom fans in a “fan walk.”

First-grade teacher Marie Bernier sprays each student with a spritz of water as they file into the classroom.

Students seemed good-natured about their new classroom rituals.

“I’m hot,” said 8-year-old Zaina Mimar as she rolled up the legs of her overalls. “I’m telling my mother to get me different shirts because I’m so hot.”

“When it’s really hot, I feel really lazy,” said 9-year-old Jessica Cuestas. “I tell my mom to put water in the freezer so I can put it in my water bottle.”

Fifth-grader Firusa Charitova said she wore airy culottes to keep her legs cool, and she drinks lots of water.

“During recess, I just sit sometimes,” she said.