Pikesville Group Wants Air Conditioning for High School

Some days at Pikesville High School are more uncomfortably hot than others, said Jeff Jerome, vice president of the school's Parent, Teacher, Student Association.

For example, one day he picked his son up from school and noticed that all his son's papers were damp. "My son's papers were all wet because he was sweating all day in class. It's pretty bad," Jerome said.

Jerome and other PTSA parents are speaking out these days. Some say the heat is uncomfortable and inhibits learning. Others say students are exhausted from the heat when they get home. And others say it exacerbates conditions like asthma.

They want installing air conditioning to be a budget priority at the school they say is hotter than others because of the way it was constructed, Jerome said.

Pikesville High School is unique because the south, sunny side of the building is constructed with black, heat-absorbing metal panels, and there's no shade there, said Jerome, a former engineer.

The design coupled with the fact that there is no air conditioning at the school makes the building "extremely hot," he said.

"We feel that the school is hotter than your average school," Jerome said. And Pikesville High School could get even warmer in 2013 when the building gets new windows and doors as planned—just as the temperatures rose at Ridgely Middle School in Lutherville after its new windows and doors were installed, Jerome said.

He suggested applying some of the renovation money to air conditioning.

Jerome and other parents spoke this week during a meeting of the Education Advisory Council of Baltimore County's northwest area council, asking it to consider budgeting for air conditioning.

Since it was the area's Operating and Capital Pre-budget Hearing, it was an "opportunity to present to the Northwest council and make our wishes known," Jerome said.

Charles Herndon, spokesman for Baltimore County Schools, said air conditioning in schools has been an important concern for years.

"As it has been for a while, air conditioning is an issue that certainly is among the many that we have to consider given the fact that we have many physical needs in our school system," he said.

Herndon went on to say, "We have to look at that issue in the context of having very many needs and limited resources."

The school system addresses air conditioning "as the resources become available," according to Herndon. Those opportunities are usually during renovations or new school construction, he said. 

Meanwhile, a measure by state Comptroller Peter Franchot to earmark funds for installing air conditioning in schools failed Wednesday.

Gov. Martin O'Malley and state Treasurer Nancy Kopp voted down a motion by Comptroller Peter Franchot that would have withheld $3.5 million of $7 million in schools funding until there was a plan to install air conditioning in some Baltimore County Public schools.

For details, read the blog by Bryan Sears.