Teachers brace for another heat wave and too-hot classrooms

Teachers across Newport-Mesa Unified are preparing for the return of sweltering temperatures this week, while the district struggles to find a short-term way to keep students and employees cool in classrooms that lack air conditioning.

The National Weather Service has issued a heat advisory Friday through Saturday, and temperatures in the area are expected to reach 94 degrees. Thursday will be warmer than usual as well with a forecast of 89 degrees.

This means temperatures in classrooms without air conditioning will also be on the rise, teachers say.

“I know that I won’t be outside doing anything with the students,” said Newport Harbor High School teacher Melissa Taravella. “I usually turn the lights off in the room during hot days. It helps us think that we’re staying cooler.”

Newport-Mesa teachers began to speak out about the intolerable heat in their classrooms in May and again in September.

In response, the district put together a heat advisory committee, made up of teachers, administrators, classified staff and Supt. Fred Navarro, to study the problem and come up with solutions while the district makes plans to install air conditioning in all of the schools.

However, it’s a process that could take more than a decade, district officials said.

In the meantime, the district encouraged teachers to buy fans at the beginning of the school year in anticipation of hot weather.

Teachers were reimbursed for the expense, district spokeswoman Laura Boss has said.

Boss could not be reached for further comment.

Newport Harbor administration provided students with cold water bottles in the classrooms during September’s heat wave, Taravella said.

The district also is considering shortening the school day when classroom temperatures reach unbearable levels.

Several teachers brought in misters and portable air conditioners for their classrooms as well, said Newport-Mesa Federation of Teachers President Kimberly Claytor.

However, the district instructed teachers not to use portable air conditioners in their classrooms because they were told “the district refuses to pay the electric bill on portable units,” according to an email written by Claytor to a district official.

Claytor said the heat isn’t a new problem in Newport-Mesa.

“The union has been informing, complaining, urging and trying to motivate the district to do something to relieve conditions for years now,” she said.

School board Trustee Katrina Foley said she’s also discussed the possibility of installing portable air conditioners, but was told no by other officials.

“We need to figure out a way to allow portable units in the classroom,” she said. “To me that’s the interim solution. I don’t know why that’s so complicated.”