Resource spotlight
UndauntedK12
How schools heat and cool their buildings affects student health, learning, and costs. As temperatures rise, legacy heating and cooling systems struggle to keep up - leading to uncomfortable classrooms, lower test scores, and school closures.
Virgin Islands
The St. Thomas Source - October 9, 2025
A protest outside Bertha C. Boschulte Middle School Wednesday morning drew attention to ongoing maintenance problems in the territory’s schools, including failing air conditioning units. Craig Benjamin, executive director of the Bureau of School Construction and Maintenance, acknowledged the issues and pointed to staffing and funding shortages as major obstacles to making repairs. “The thing…
California
10news.com - September 30, 2025
Teachers at McKinley Elementary School in North Park say their classrooms have been unbearably hot for months, and they argue that the San Diego Unified School District is not moving fast enough to address the problem. For nearly 10 weeks, Kindergarten teacher Frances Mackenzie said she has asked the district to repair the school’s outdated…
New Mexico
Rio Rancho Observer - September 10, 2025
More than a month into the new school year, a segment of Maggie Cordova Elementary School is without a fully functional air conditioning system, highlighting an issue that is under fresh examination from the school board. Portable AC units were installed in two portable classrooms in the school until a purchase order arrives, according to…
Idaho
KMVT.com - September 2, 2025
Over the past few months, the Twin Falls School District has been busy upgrading multiple schools with millions of dollars in upgrades. “When you’re a student in a classroom and its 95 degrees it’s kind of difficult to learn in those conditions,” said Superintendent Brady Dickinson. Dickinson said Harrison and Morningside Elementary Schools both had…
Research/Report
M. Pilar Botana Martinez, Priam Dinesh Vyas, Katherine H. Walsh, Lauren Main, Lauren Bolton, Yirong Yuan, Masanao Yajima, M. Patricia Fabian
This study analyzes heat exposure in over 3,600 classrooms across 125 Northeastern U.S. schools during summer 2023. Findings highlight the variability in indoor temperatures and the importance of cooling access, advocating for continuous monitoring to improve climate resilience and student comfort.
Colorado
Aspen Journalism - August 29, 2025
In a town best known for snow and its mountain backdrops, Joe Waneka has what might seem an odd problem to solve. As director of operations for the Aspen School District, he is tasked, in part, with keeping the 1,600 students enrolled in the district’s elementary, middle and high schools cool enough so that heat…
Puerto Rico
NBC News - August 21, 2025
When temperatures soar at a public school on the small Puerto Rican island of Culebra, students scatter in search of relief. During a summer program last month, as outdoor temperatures climbed into the upper 80s, Zedrik, a rising third grader, sat in the schoolyard beside a bush not tall enough to shade him entirely from…
Hawaii
Honolulu Civil Beat - August 13, 2025
A multimillion-dollar effort to cool the state’s school classrooms has fallen well short of its goals due to rushed planning and poor decision-making, the state Office of the Auditor found in a damning report released Tuesday. The one-off Cool Classrooms Initiative, launched by then-Gov. David Ige in 2016 and meant to air-condition over 1,000 classrooms…
North Carolina
WRAL News - August 11, 2025
Upgrades to newer, high-efficiency heating, ventilation and air conditioning technology aren’t in the cards for the Wake County Public School System, where a $200 million maintenance backlog has plagued the schools. Frustrated students have been pushing the school district for new HVAC technology — highlighting the district's many troubles with HVAC systems –- as a…