Parents say lack of air conditioning at Lester B. Pearson schools a safety issue

Parents and teachers from Evergreen Elementary School in Saint-Lazare called on commissioners with the Lester B. Pearson School Board to install air conditioning at the school.

Jennifer Buraglia, a parent at the school, got teachers to record temperatures throughout several weeks in June and September.

“The temperatures recorded at Evergreen were 45 degrees Celsius. These are unsafe conditions,” Buraglia told the commissioners at a meeting on Monday.

Kindergarten teacher Isabelle Petterson was one of the educators who agreed to keep track of temperatures in her classroom last summer.

“The heat was very uncomfortable. My little five-year-olds are sweating profusely; they get distracted, tired, irritable,” Petterson told Global News.

One-third of Lester B. Pearson schools already have air conditioning.

For those that don’t, the board says it is working on a plan — just not necessarily one that involves installing air conditioning units.

“We have to be wary of an expectation that the buildings will be air-conditioned because this is an extraordinary expense,”  said board chair Noel Burke.

The Lester B. Pearson School Board estimates it would cost $50 million to put air conditioning in all its schools, plus an extra $500,000 annually for maintenance.

The board says it is working with Montreal Public Health to come up with solutions, including getting ceiling fans in the rooms, having cold water available in each classroom and getting special drapes for south-facing classrooms.

“We are looking at a solution that is safe and that can be rolled out at all of our schools,” said the board’s assistant director general Carol Heffernan.

The LBPSB’s facilities and safety committee says it will come up with recommendations before spring.